AC Milan host Fiorentina at San Siro this afternoon hoping to take another big step towards achieving their Scudetto dream.
The Rossoneri have their title hopes in their own hands again after Inter’s loss against Bologna in midweek but Fiorentina will not be an easy opponent given they put four past the Rossoneri earlier in the season. You can read our preview here, while below are the best pre-match stats…
➤ After a 4-3 win in the reverse fixture, Fiorentina could win both Serie A games against AC Milan in a single season for the first time since 2000-01 – 4-0 with Fatih Terim and 2-1 with Roberto Mancini.
➤ AC Milan have scored at least two goals in each of their last three Serie A games against Fiorentina and have not recorded a longer streak against the Viola in the competition since a run of six between 1992 and 1996.
➤ Milan and Fiorentina have not drawn at the Meazza in Serie A since a 1-1 draw in October 2014, with goals from Nigel de Jong and Josip Ilicic – since then there’s been four home and two away wins.
➤ Since the beginning of 2022, AC Milan have conceded eight goals in 15 Serie A games, only Liverpool (6) have conceded fewer goals in the big five European league during that time.
➤ AC Milan have kept clean sheets in their last three home league games and have not reached four in a row in the competition since March 2019, when Gennaro Gattuso was in charge.
➤ Fiorentina have conceded in each of their last 13 Serie A away matches under Vincenzo Italiano, in the three points for a win era, they have done that for 14 successive such games under the same manager only twice – under Cesare Prandelli in December 2020 (15) and Roberto Mancini in December 2001 (14).
➤ Fiorentina have lost their last two Serie A matches and they could lose three in a row for the first time since December 2019 – a run of four defeats under Vincenzo Montella.
➤ Against no other side in Serie A has Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored more goals than against Fiorentina (11 – also against Roma), while he also has 15 goal involvements against them, more than against any other side in the competition (4 assists also). Indeed, the only brace for the Swede in Serie A this season was in the reverse fixture against the Viola.
➤ On the day of this match, Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be 40 years and 210 days old, should he score he would become the second-oldest scorer in Serie A history, beating Silvio Piola in 1954 (40 years and 131 days) and would be behind only Alessandro Costacurta (41 years and 25 days in 2007).
➤ Riccardo Saponara, who scored in the last away match against Salernitana, has scored four goals against Milan in Serie A, his former team, including one in the reverse fixture. AC Milan are the only side against which the Fiorentina midfielder has scored more than two goals in the Italian top-flight.
