AC Milan are looking to return to winning ways on Saturday night as they welcome a Udinese side that are winless so far in 2023-24 to San Siro.
Milan emerged from the so-called ‘week of fire’ with just one point to their name, having lost 1-0 to Juventus and 3-0 to Paris Saint-Germain before letting a two-goal lead slip against Napoli to draw 2-2. However, the schedule now gets a bit easier, at least on paper and in Serie A.
Stefano Pioli spoke to the media on the eve of the clash and he addressed a number of topics from the injury crisis to the recent criticism aimed at him and the team, but he was eager to stress how compact and united the squad are.
Game date: Saturday, November 4
Kick-off time: 20:45 (CET)
Venue: San Siro
Referee: Juan Luca Sacchi (VAR: Abbattista)
Team news
Milan have once again found themselves in an injury crisis at a point in the capaign when the games are coming thick and fast, something which has now happened for three seasons in a row.
The Rossoneri will have at least six players missing heading into the game, starting with the long-term absences of Ismael Bennacer and Mattia Caldara who continue their respective recoveries after surgery.
Speaking of surgery, the latest player to enter the treatment room was Pierre Kalulu, who will be out for four months after sustaining a tendon problem in the Napoli draw that needed operating on.
Marco Pellegrino joins him on the sidelines with a fractured foot, meaning he won’t be back before Christmas and there is now a real shortage of options at centre-back.
Samuel Chukwueze and Marco Sportiello both have muscle problems and are not ready to return yet, while there are doubts over whether Christian Pulisic and Simon Kjaer – also having had muscle issues – might make the bench.
The good news is that Ruben Loftus-Cheek returned to training with the rest of the squad and should be fit to play at least a portion of the game on Saturday, with a view to starting against PSG on Tuesday.
In terms of selection news, the back four picks itself with Davide Calabria, Malick Thiaw, Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez expected to be in front of Mike Maignan, but in midfield there are a couple of doubts.
If Yunus Musah seems certain of a spot on the right of the three, Rade Krunic and Yacine Adli are battling to start in the middle while one of either Tijjani Reijnders or Tommaso Pobega will be on the left.
Up front, Luka Romero will get his first competitive start with Pulisic and Chukwueze out. Rafael Leao should be on the other wing hoping to end his goal drought, and it is possible that Luka Jovic could start over Olivier Giroud.
UPDATE: There are now some suggestions that Pioli could field Jovic and Giroud up front together, with Musah and Leao on the right and left respectively, and a double pivot of Krunic and Reijnders.
Probable Milan XI (4-3-3): Maignan; Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori, Hernandez; Musah, Krunic, Reijnders, Romero, Giroud, Leao.
The opponents
Udinese’s summer transfer window was an interesting one as they lost Beto and Rodrigo Becoa for a combined €40m, but chose to bring in a few players who could be considered big gambles.
Oier Zarraga arrived from Bilbao on a free, Etienne Camara joined from Huddersfield Town, Joao Ferreira came on loan from Watford, Marley Are was loaned from Juventus, then Maduka Okoya, Martin Payero and Keinan Davis came from England too.
The Friulians have really struggled winning games so far this season, with their only victory being a 4-1 Coppa Italia triumph over Catanzaro before they were knocked out in midweek by Cagliari.
In the league they are winless having drawn seven of their 10 games so far, leaving them just above the bottom three. Their 3-0 loss to Juventus, 2-0 defeat to Fiorentina and 4-1 hiding from Napoli show they struggle agains the top sides.
With just six goals scored in their 10 league games thus far it is hard to find a worse attacking side in Italy, but they have only let in 14 goals which shows an element of being hard to beat.
Gabriele Cioffi recently returned to the club following Andrea Sottil’s sacking as head coach, and they travel to Milan on Saturday having drawn four out of five away from home this season.
There are a number of absentees for Cioffi to deal with, like his opposite number Pioli. Gerard Deulofeu, Brenner, Kingsley Ehizibue, Enzo Ebosse and Thomas Kristensen are all unavailable for the game.
However, it is expected that Jaka Bijol, Nehuen Perez and Roberto Pereyra will all come back into the side in addition to Lazar Samardzic who is without doubt their most creative force.
Perez, Bijol and Kabasele should for the three-man defence with Ebosele and Kamara the wing-backs, plus a midfield three of Samardzic, Walace and Lovric behind Perayra and Lucca.
Probable Udinese XI (3-5-1-1): Silvestri; Perez, Bijol, Kabasele; Ebosele, Samardzic, Walace, Lovric, Kamara; Pereyra; Lucca.
Head to head
Milan have played Udinese 103 times across all competitions in their history, winning 44 of those games with 37 draws and 22 defeats, leaving a win rate of 42.7%.
The same fixture last season was the first game of the 2022-23 campaign and it saw the newly-crowned Scudetto winners win 4-2. An Ante Rebic brace plus goals from Theo and Brahim Diaz were enough to come Udinese, who led 1-0 and pegged Milan back to 2-2 just before the break.
Away from home at the Dacia Arena, Udinese would get their revenge as they won 3-1. Pereyra opened the scoring before Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted a penalty to become the oldest ever Serie A scorer, but Beto and Ehizibue’s strikes ensured there would be no win to celebrate.
Match facts…
➤ Udinese won their last Serie A encounter against Milan, after six matches without winning (D3 L3); the last time the Friulani won back-to-back games against the Rossoneri in the competition was in 2017.
➤ Milan are unbeaten in 15 of their last 16 Serie A home games against Udinese (W9 D6): the Friulians’ only win in this period came in September 2016, thanks to Stipe Perica’s goal.
➤ Since Stefano Pioli arrival at Milan, Udinese are the only team against which the Rossoneri have both always scored and conceded against in Serie A (13 netted, 11 conceded in seven games).
➤ Milan have only lost two of their last 25 Serie A matches against opponents starting a matchday in the bottom four (W18 D5) – both these defeats arrived in 2023: 0-2 against Spezia on May 13 and 2-5 against Sassuolo on January 29.
➤ Udinese are the fourth team to draw at least seven of the first 10 Serie A seasonal games (L3) in the three points for a win era, after Bari 1998/99 (7), Inter 2004-05 (8) and Cagliari 2006-07 (7); each of these three sides have also drawn their 11th seasonal match.
➤ Milan have won six of their last seven Serie A home games, losing their most recent one, 0-1 against Juventus; the last time the Rossoneri failed to score in back-to-back league matches on home soil was in January 2020, while the last time they lost consecutive games at San Siro was in September 2019, under Marco Giampaolo.
➤ Udinese have spent the joint-fewest minutes leading in away matches in Serie A this season: 15, alongside Hellas Verona; the Friulani have drawn four of their five away matches in Serie A this season (L1), two of those 0-0, having ended last term with five consecutive defeats on the road.
➤ Since Malick Thiaw made his Serie A debut (October 16, 2022), Milan have recorded an average of 2.3 points per game and conceded 0.7 goals per game with him and Fikayo Tomori together on the pitch. By comparison, they have averaged 1.3 points and 1.8 goals against per game without at least one of the two defenders in the competition.
➤ Since the start of 2023, no player has scored more headed goals than Olivier Giroud in the ‘top five’ European leagues (7, level with Erling Haaland and Harry Kane); the Frenchman has become the first Milan player on record (since 2004-05) to score as many headed goals in a single calendar year in Serie A, and is one away from equalling Victor Osimhen in 2022 (8).
➤ Lorenzo Lucca has scored two goals in his last four Serie A appearances, after failing to score in each of his previous six; the Udinese striker is only the second Italian player born since 1998 to find the net for the Friulani in the competition, after Destiny Udogie.
Ones to watch
It feels rather obvious to pick Leao out as Milan’s danger man, even if for the last few weeks it perhaps hasn’t been justified nor our faith repaid. He is in need of a goal, just as it would be nice for Giroud to build on his brace against Napoli and not start another stretch without one.
While waiting to see how the team line up exactly, it must also be said that Reijnders would benefit greatly confidence-wise from a goal which would be his first. The numbers show that Tomori-Thiaw is the Rossoneri’s best pairing, and they will be reunited with anything less than a clean sheet a big disappointment.
In a season that has not had much to cheer for from an attacking standpoint for Udinese, Lorenzo Lucca stands out with two goals and an assist, while Samardzic also has two goals to his name. They are the only players to have scored more than once.
The veteran Pérez will have to be the leader of the rearguard for the Zebrette, who as mentioned have been far from disastrous defensively so far, while in midfield Walace must limit the influence of players between the lines.
Prediction
This has to be a win if Milan are to halt their slide, there simply can be no alternative. History suggests games against Udinese are never easy, but with their struggles going forward an early goal might well be enough to decide a game that already feels like a crossroads so early in the season.
AC Milan 2-0 Udinese
If we win 1 0 or 2 1 is excellent result.
The midfield is all wrong, I would go with this
Mike
Calabria Thaiw Tomori
Musah. Adli Rjnders. Theo
Okafor. Leao
JOVIC
I think Calabria would do well as a right centre back and Musah and Theo as wing backs. And Rijders could more then competently join the midfield with the attack
Given our injury crisis I think this is a great makeshift solution. But we really should be blooding Brastaghi and Simic, instead of looking for cheap average defenders
But fully fit we have a great squad and Benacer, Rijnders and Adli could be great midfield trio, but not for another few weeks, so we wait and hopefully we can see the best of Chuck, RLC and Okafor!!