Opposition insight for Sassuolo-Milan: Form, injuries, predicted XI and more

If you are looking for some information about AC Milan’s hosts on Sunday, Sassuolo, you are in the right place, with our opposition insight. 

On Sunday afternoon, Milan will hope to take a huge step towards the Champions League with a win at the Mapei Stadium. Three points would all but confirm their place in next season’s competition and Massimiliano Allegri will demand as much.

The hosts will be no pushovers, though. Under Fabio Grosso, the Neroverdi have been exceptional this season and will be more than capable of an upset. Indeed, Massimiliano Allegri was heavily complimentary about this weekend’s opposition in his pre-game press conference.

Opposition insight on Sassuolo

➤ Manager: Fabio Grosso
➤ Form (all comps): D-W-L-W-D (most recent)
➤ Top scorer (Serie A): Andrea Pinamonti – 8
➤ Most assists (Serie A): Armand Lauriente – 8
➤ Injuries & suspensions: Boloca, Candè, Pieragnolo, Bakola.

Before the meeting at San Siro earlier in the season, we recapped all of the summer business that Sassuolo did ahead of their return to Serie A in our pre-match preview.

Having won Serie B in 2024-25, the mission for the Neroverdi was very simple: to stay in the top flight and to do is comfortably if possible. They have managed to achieve that aim and more, given they currently sit inside the top half.

Under the stewardship of Fabio Grosso, Sassuolo have won 13 of their 34 league games so far, with seven draws and 14 defeats. That has them on 46 points, and if they end the campaign well they can realistically finish as high as eighth.

Their last six games paints a fairly accurate picture: a 1-0 loss to Bologna was followed by a 1-1 draw way at Juventus, a 2-1 win at home to Cagliari, a 2-1 loss at Genoa, a 2-1 win over Como and a 0-0 draw with Fiorentina.

In essence, thanks to a core of players that have been very impressive and are primed for moves away, they have been able to regularly beat the teams that the should an even spring a few surprises. That could well be bad news for Milan, as they are playing a team with nothing to lose.

In terms of team news, the positive note for Grosso – who has been linked with the Fiorentina job recently – is that Domenico Berardi returns from a two-match ban and he loves facing Milan. More on that to come.

The doubts seem to be about whether Arijanet Muric will get the gloves back from Stefano Turati, but reports suggest he will not. Meanwhile, Filippo Romagna, Edoardo Pieragnolo and Fali Cande are all ruled out for the rest of the season, and Darryl Bakola is to be evaluated.

After last weekend’s clean sheet, Grosso will keep the back five unchanged. So, Turati will start in goal, with Walukiewicz and Garcia on the flanks. Centrally, former Milan targets Muharemovic and Idzes will start together again.

Like in defence, there are no changes in midfield, with Matic, Kone and Thorstvedt expected to line up again.

However, in attack, there will be one swap. Lauriente and Pinamonti retain their places, whilst Milan’s biggest enemy, Domenico Berardi, comes back into the starting XI. As a reminder, he is the top scorer when the sides meet with 11 goals.

Predicted Sassuolo XI (4-3-3): Turati; Walukiewicz, Muharemovic, Idzes, Garcia; Thorstvedt, Matic, Kone; Berardi, Pinamont, Lauriente.

Predicted bench: Muric, Satalino, Zacchi, Doig, Romagna, Coulibaly, Pedro Felipe, Lipani, Vranckx, Iannoni, Volpato, Fadera, Nzola, Moro.