AC Milan will play their first Champions League home game in seven years tonight as they host Atletico Madrid at San Siro, the team they last faced back in 2014.
Milan come into the game full of confidence having won five out of their opening six matches in the league to put them behind only Napoli in second place, but they must respond in Europe after losing to Liverpool in the first group game.
You can read our match preview here, while below are the best pre-match stats…
➤ Milan and Atlético Madrid’s only previous meetings came in the 2013-14 UEFA Champions League, where the Italian side lost both legs and were eliminated in the Round of 16.
➤ This will be Atlético Madrid’s fifth away game against Italian opposition in the UEFA Champions League under Diego Simeone. Since winning the first of these (1-0 vs. Milan in February 2014), Atlético have failed to win each of the last four without scoring a goal (D2, L2).
➤ Milan have only won one of their last 17 games against Spanish opponents in European competition (D7, L9), while they’re winless in the seven games since the only victory in this run – 2-0 vs. Barcelona in February 2013.
➤ Atlético Madrid have only failed to win their opening two games of a UEFA Champions League campaign on one previous occasion under Diego Simeone – drawing 0-0 against Roma and losing 1-2 to Chelsea in the 2017-18 tournament.
➤ Milan have only kept one clean sheet in their last 10 home games in European competition (3-0 vs. Sparta Prague in October 2020), with all of those coming in the UEFA Europa League (including qualifiers). This will be their first home game in the UEFA Champions League since a 0-1 defeat to Atlético Madrid in February 2014
➤ Atlético Madrid have lost five of their last nine away games in the UEFA Champions League (W3 D1), while their previous five defeats on the road in the competition came over a run of 18 games (W6 D7).
➤ Antoine Griezmann is Atlético Madrid’s all-time top scorer in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League (21 goals), and could also become their outright top scorer in away games if he finds the net in this game (currently on five).
➤ In their defeat at Anfield on MD1, Brahim Diaz (22y 43d) became the youngest player to score on his UEFA Champions League debut for AC Milan since Yoann Gourcuff in September 2006 (20) 64d v AEK Athens).
➤ The last player to score in his first two UEFA Champions League appearances for Milan was teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who did so back in September 2010.
➤ Atlético Madrid attempted just six shots and recorded an xG total of 0.3 in their last game against FC Porto – this was their lowest xG game total in the UEFA Champions League since May 2017 against Real Madrid in a semi-final clash (0.2).
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