AC Milan and Juventus will renew hostilities once again as the two teams face off in the showpiece clash of round nine of the Serie A season.
Milan come into the game having won seven games out of eight in the league thus far, putting them top of the table two points ahead of Inter – who are the only team to beat the Rossoneri this season – and four ahead of Juve in second.
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Nonetheless, Stefano Pioli was keen to stress in his press conference that what has come before counts for little and that his side must continue to improve if they are to affirm their title credentials.
Game date: Sunday, October 22
Kick-off time: 20:45 (CEST)
Venue: San Siro
Referee: Maurizio Mariani (VAR: Irrati)
Team news
Just as it looked like Milan might escape from the international break with no new injuries and a number of recoveries, things have taken a sour turn in the few days leading up to the match.
Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez will be suspended for the game after the former was sent off in the win over Genoa and the latter got his fifth yellow card of the season.
Marco Sportiello was expected to take his place, but on Thursday it was announced that he has suffered a calf injury that will keep him out for two months.
That came after it was confirmed that Samuel Chukwueze returned early from Nigeria duty with a hamstring injury that will keep him sidelined for a month, while Ismael Bennacer and Mattia Caldara are continuing their long-term recoveries.
According to Sky, Rade Krunic and Pierre Kalulu will almost certainly be called up but Ruben Loftus-Cheek still feels some discomfort, so it is possible that he won’t be risked to try to have him back in the Champions League.
Yunus Musah, Yacine Adli and Tijjani Reijnders are expected to be the midfield three given the doubts about Krunic and Loftus-Cheek at present.
Then, Pioli is tipped to deploy the trio of Christian Pulisic, Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao in attack, with Noah Okafor ready to come off the bench after recovery from a cut sustained in a car crash.
The selection doubts are whether Simon Kjaer could get the nod in place of Thiaw, and if Tommaso Pobega could be used instead of Musah, in view of the PSG and Napoli games to come.
Probable Milan XI (4-3-3): Mirante; Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori, Florenzi; Musah, Adli, Reijnders; Pulisic, Giroud, Leao.
The opponents
After missing out on European football by virtue of the ban imposed following the investigations into falsified capital gains, Juve had a rather subdued summer transfer window.
They stuck with Max Allegri at the helm and only really invested in Timothy Weah of Lille (€11.3m, per Transfermarkt) and bringing back Arkadiusz Milik, though they did pay out big money on the Manuel Locatelli and Moise Kean deals as they were made permanent.
Dejan Kulusevski left to join Spurs on a permanent deal, while Denis Zakaria went to Monaco, Radu Dragusin was sold to Genoa and several players left on frees like Angel Di Maria, Juan Cuadrado, Leonardo Bonucci and Marko Pjaca.
The Bianconeri have started the season quite positively, with five wins in their first eight league games, including five clean sheets.
The most impressive victory was a 3-1 win over Lazio back in mid-September but that was followed up by their only defeat of the campaign so far, a 4-2 loss away against Sassuolo that aroused some of those Allegri doubts again.
In the game before the international break they again got the better of Torino in the Derby della Mole, with Gatti and Milik getting on the scoresheet.
Allegri will be forced to make certain choices in defence with Danilo and Alex Sandro unavailable, meaning Gatti-Bremer-Rugani should be the back three ahead of Szczesny.
In midfield the Bianconeri do not have Pogba or Fagioli so McKennie, Locatelli and Rabio should be the three central midfielders with Weah and Kostic the wing-back.
Vlahovic has recovered for the game and he will partner Milik up front but Chiesa remains a strong doubt to start at the time of writing, though he has been called up.
Probable Juventus XI (3-5-2): Szczesny; Gatti, Bremer, Rugani; Weah, McKennie, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic; Milik, Vlahovic.
Head to head
Juventus are the team that AC Milan have faced the most in their entire history, with 223 meetings between the sides across all competitions. Of those, 65 were wins for the Rossoneri, 71 were draws and 87 were Bianconeri victories.
Last season marked the first time since 2009-10 that Milan did the double over Juventus, with a 2-0 victory at San Siro (goals from Tomori and Brahim Diaz) followed by a 1-0 in Turin that Giroud netted the winner in.
Prior to recent years it had been a one-sided rivalry in terms of results, with the Diavolo winning one game in 22 between January 2013 and July 2020.
Match facts…
➤ Milan are unbeaten in their last five Serie A matches against Juventus (W3 D2) – they haven’t gone six unbeaten since a seven-match streak between 1986 and 1989 (W3 D4). Furthermore, Stefano Pioli could become the first coach in AC Milan’s history to go six consecutive league matches without losing against Juventus.
➤ Milan have kept a clean sheet in four of their last five Serie A matches against Juventus – as many as in their previous 22 encounters with the Bianconeri. The Rossoneri have kept a clean sheet in each of their last three Serie A clashes with Juventus and haven’t achieved four in a row since 1988-1989.
➤ In eight of the last 11 Serie A clashes at the San Siro between Milan and Juventus, at least one of the two teams have failed to score (Juventus in the last two). Across this period, AC Milan have
secured four wins, one draw, while Juventus have claimed six wins.
➤ Milan defeated Genoa 1-0 in their first match in October this year. The Rossoneri have won the first two matches played in October in each of the three previous seasons under Stefano Pioli. In 2022, the second of the two matches was against Juventus (2-0 in Milan).
➤ Milan have won seven of their opening eight league matches this season (L1), they have only won eight of their opening nine Serie A matches in two previous seasons (1954-55 and 2021-22).
➤ No side has kept more Serie A clean sheets in 2023 than Juventus (15, tied with Napoli). Juventus have kept a clean sheet in their last three league matches and are looking to keep four in a row for the first time since January 2023.
➤ Juventus are one of six sides in the ‘top five’ European leagues yet to concede a goal from a set piece in 2023-24. The other teams are Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Metz, Reims, and Newcastle. The last goal that Juventus conceded from a set piece was by Luperto for Empoli in May this year.
➤ Fikayo Tomori scored his first two Serie A goals against Juventus, both from set pieces. The English defender has three wins and one draw in the four league matches played against Juventus.
➤ Christian Pulisic has scored four goals in the opening eight Serie A matches. Only four Milan players have managed to reach five goals before their 10th appearance in their debut season across the era of three points for a win (Shevchenko, Ronaldinho, Pato, and Bacca).
➤ Federico Chiesa has been directly involved in more Serie A away goals against Milan than any other side with six (three goals and three assists). In all five of his away matches against Milan in the top-tier, he has been involved in at least one goal.
Ones to watch
The man of the moment for Milan is Pulisic and he will be looking to get his fifth goal of the season, but in the biggest games it is his attacking partners Giroud and Leao who must contribute, especially the Frenchman given his goal drought.
In midfield it will be another important test for Adli at the base of the three while Reijnders remains the metronome, and of course Florenzi must do his best on his non-natural side, with Tomori also a player who seems to relish this fixture in particular.
For Juve, it is obvious that Vlahovic will be looking to score his first goal at San Siro and return from injury in the best possible way, with Kostic and Milik also capable of generating threat with their supply and finishing respectively.
Bremer will have to marshal the back line for the Bianconeri given the injury problems, while Rabiot is very much the midfield leader and he has scored for Juve against Milan at San Siro, albeit in the 4-2 defeat that came during lockdown.
Prediction
All things considered this doesn’t feel like a game that Milan will keep a clean sheet in, nor should we expect Juve to come all guns blazing, and that is why a draw feels like the most outcome given how much is on the line for both teams.
AC Milan 1-1 Juventus
I would predict brave Ac Milan victory 1 0
I will go with 2-1 victory for us.
Hey @Oliver, You posted the Juve lineup in Milan XI.
Why are we playing Sunday night when we got an important UCL match on Wednesday 🤔🤔🤔