AC Milan will play their final game of 2023 on Saturday evening as they welcome Sassuolo to San Siro, looking to bounce back after a bad result a few days prior.
Milan had to settle for a 2-2 draw against the bottom-placed side Salernitana on Friday night, with a late Luka Jovic strike earning them a point. It has Stefano Pioli and the team under pressure once again after the wins over Newcastle and Monza.
Pioli spoke in his pre-match press conference and he insisted that he does not feel pressure regarding his position, instead focusing more on ensuring his side put in the best performance possible.
Game date: Saturday, December 30
Kick-off time: 18:00 (CET)
Venue: San Siro
Referee: Livio Marinelli (VAR: Meraviglia)
Team news
Milan have ended 2023 in a very familiar fashion to how the entire calendar year has gone, with inconsistency the key word. The 3-2 loss away at Atalanta was followed by wins over Newcastle and Monza, but then dropped points one week ago against Salernitana who haven’t won a game.
Many players remain unavailable for Pioli, including Marco Sportiello, Pierre Kalulu, Malick Thiaw, Fikayo Tomori, Marco Pellegrino, Mattia Caldara, Yunus Musah, Tommaso Pobega and Noah Okafor. Luka Jovic was a doubt after suffering a blow to his ankle in Salerno, but he should be available.
The reliance on the Primavera products is likely to continue with Francesco Camarda tipped to get a spot on the bench just over a month after his record-breaking debut. Jan-Carlo Simic, Alex Jimenez, Davide Bartesaghi, Lapo Nava, Clinton Nsiala, Chaka Traore and Kevin Zeroli should all make the bench.
According to the latest from various sources, Pioli is likely to rely on a defence that includes Mike Maignan between the posts, Davide Calabria and Alessandro Florenzi as full-backs then Simon Kjaer and Theo Hernandez as the centre-backs.
From midfield upwards Pioli should keep the same starters seen in Salerno, with Ismael Bennacer between Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders, the Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao flanking Olivier Giroud in attack.
Probable Milan XI (4-3-3): Maignan; Calabria, Kjaer, Theo, Florenzi; Loftus-Cheek, Bennacer, Reijnders; Pulisic, Giroud, Leao.
The opponents
After securing a top-half finish in 2020-21, Sassuolo dropped off slightly in their last two campaigns, finishing 11th in 2021-22 and 13th last season.
The Neroverdi had quite an expansive summer transfer window as they paid out €20m to Inter for Andrea Pinamonti, €10m to Frosinone for Daniel Boloca, and over €5m for each of Luca Lipani, Cristian Volpato, Nedim Bajrami and Samuele Mulattieri.
Three big sales helped to finance this: Manuel Locatelli’s loan to Juventus became permanent for €30m, Giacomo Raspadori’s loan to Napoli became permanent for €26m, while Hamed Junior Traore went to Bournemouth for around €25m.
Added to that is the sale of Davide Frattesi to Inter in a loan with obligation to buy deal, continuing Sassuolo’s reputation as a club not afraid of cashing in on their best players for the right price, and gambling on talent to replace them.
This season has been more of a struggle again as they sit in 15th place in the Serie A table before a ball has been kicked in round 18, with just four wins from 17 games and a -7 goal difference.
Berardi continues to be their big threat and he loves a game at San Siro, but Sassuolo head coach Alessio Dionisi was non-committal regarding whether he will play because he has been suffering in illness.
“Domenico didn’t train the day after the match because he was ill, then he did all the training with the team. Fingers crossed because he was there against Genoa, he fell ill the night before the match, I can’t give an answer on this,” he said.
Sassuolo still have quite a few other players out too, with Uros Racic, Daniel Boloca, Gregoire Defrel, Matias Vina and Mattia Viti all expected to sit out the game.
The latest reports suggest a 4-2-3-1 with Consigli in goal, Toljan-Erlic-Tressoldi-Pedersen as the back four, a double pivot of Henrique and Thorstvedt, then Berardi, Castillejo and Lauriente behind Pinamonti.
Probable Sassuolo XI (4-2-3-1): Consigli; Toljan, Erlic, Tressoldi, Pedersen; Henrique, Thorstvedt; Berardi, Castillejo, Lauriente; Pinamonti.
Head to head
Sassuolo have earned the reputation of being a bogey side not just for Milan but for other top clubs in Serie A since their debut in the top flight. Milan have played them 21 times across all competitions, winning 11 but losing seven, with three draws.
The last meeting was a 5-2 defeat at San Siro in January, a humiliating result and one of the lowest points of last season, one that put Pioli’s job at risk just as it is now.
The very first match between the Neroverdi and the Rossoneri which ended 4-3 for the Emilians, led to the dismissal of Max Allegri came. Between these two matches there is one constant: Domenico Berardi, who loves facing Milan.
Of course, one memory that sticks out for Milanista is the 3-0 win at the Mapei Stadium in the final round of the 2021-22 season, one that sealed the 19th Scudetto.
Match facts…
➤ Against no team Milan are on a current longer streak of consecutive home defeats in Serie A than against Sassuolo (three – equal with Napoli).
➤ Milan have won 10 Serie A matches this season and in each of the last three Serie A seasons they have always exceeded this number of wins in the first 18 league games played of the season: 13 in 2020-21, 12 in 2021-22 and 11 in 2022-23.
➤ Milan have kept nine home clean sheets matches in 2023 in Serie A, they last kept more in a single calendar year in home matches in the competition in 2014 (10 clean sheets in that case).
➤ Sassuolo have only won four games this season and in their Serie A history they have managed only four wins or fewer in the first 18 games played of the campaign twice: in 2022-23 (four) and in 2013/14 (three).
➤ Milan have conceded 64 goals in 2023 in all competitions, a record for the Rossoneri in their history in a single calendar year (since 1929-30).
➤ Sassuolo conceded 71 goals in 2023 in the league, a record for the Neroverdi in a single calendar year in Serie A – their previous record was 70 goals conceded in 2021.
➤ Sassuolo have lost 28 points from winning positions in Serie A in 2023, at least two more than any other top-flight team since the start of the calendar year – 14 of those have been in the current campaign (record in the 2023-24 league).
➤ Olivier Giroud averages a goal every 78 minutes against Sassuolo (three goals overall), his best minutes/goals average in Serie A. The French striker is Milan’s top scorer in 2023 across all competitions (18 goals) and needs one more to match his tally of goals scored in the previous calendar year (19 in 2022).
➤ Domenico Berardi has scored 11 goals and provided seven assists against Milan in Serie A (18 goal involvements vs the Rossoneri). Amongst current players, the only one with a better record against a single opponent since 2004-05 in the competition is Paulo Dybala against Udinese (19 – 11 goals and eight assists).
Ones to watch
The main focus for Milan will of course be on how the makeshift back four does, with Kjaer and Theo together in the middle again and Florenzi on his less favoured side. Bennacer getting a start in midfield before his departure for AFCON would be a positive step too.
However, the pressure is on two players above all: Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud. Leao’s last home goal came on 23 September against Verona, 98 days ago, while for Giroud it was August 26th in the 4-1 win over Torino.
Berardi has famously made 18 goal contributions for the Neroverdi against Milan during his time at the club, including a four-goal haul in 2014. He has nine goals and three assists in the league this season, leading the way easily in goal contributions.
Pinamonti has six goals while Thorstvedt has chipped in with a handy three from midfield. Ferrari and Toljan are very much the bastions of the defence having been at Sassuolo since 2016 and 2019 respectively.
Prediction
When their backs are against the wall, this team has responded pretty much every time and we think they will do the same this time. A clean sheet seems hard to imagine with such a makeshift defence, but three points are an absolute necessity.
Milan 2-1 Sassuolo
What makes the predictor think such makeshift defense will concede only 1 goal? Milan these days will not concede at all or if one goal goes through it will come pouring into Maignan’s net. It will either be a clean sheet and more than 1 goal conceded.
I predict 1-3. Pioli’s last game.
Amen 🙏 I so want us to lose so that this madman can be sack
The only question is: How many goals will Berardi score this time?