AC Milan will be looking to make it four wins in a row in Serie A on Saturday evening when they host Monza at San Siro.
Milan have responded well domestically to the setback they suffered in the 2-1 defeat to Napoli before the international break by winning each of their three games since against Empoli, Juventus and most recently Hellas Verona.
The most recent success at the Stadio Bentegodi was certainly hard fought as Sandro Tonali’s late goal made him the hero again, and Stefano Pioli knows his side will have to be better in front of a sell-out home crowd.
Game date: Saturday, October 22nd
Kick-off time: 18:00 (CEST)
Venue: San Siro
Referee: Marinelli (VAR: Guida)
Team news
It has been a week of mixed news for Milan from an injury point of view as Mike Maignan, Simon Kjaer and Charles De Ketelaere were all due back for the game against Monza. The latter two are expected to be fit, but the French goalkeeper suffered another calf injury.
That means that Maignan joins the quartet of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alessandro Florenzi, Alexis Saelemaekers and Davide Calabria as being out of action for the Rossoneri until after the world cup.
According to Sky (via MilanEye), Pioli will once again call upon Ciprian Tatarusanu to cover for the injured Maignan, and there should be a change in defence as the recovered Kjaer is expected to take the place of Matteo Gabbia. Pierre Kalulu, Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez will keep their spots.
The broadcaster predicts a double change in midfield too with Sandro Tonali and Rade Krunic tipped to be rested in place of Ismael Bennacer and Tommaso Pobega.
Junior Messias should come back into the line-up, with Brahim Diaz keeping his spot, but then Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud should be rested with Ante Rebic on the left wing and Divock Origi up front.
Probable Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Tatarusanu; Kalulu, Kjaer, Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Pobega, Bennacer; Messias, Brahim, Rebic; Origi.
The opponents
The two men in charge of Monza are very familiar to Milan fans in former president and owner Silvio Berlusconi and ex-CEO Adriano Galliani. They achieved the dream of getting their local and boyhood club promoted to the top flight last season.
It was always going to be interesting to see what kind of a summer mercato they had given the obvious need to strengthen the squad in order to bolster hopes of survival. Just like the good old days Berlusconi provided the funding, and the ‘Condor’ did not disappoint.
They recruited a number of proven Serie A performers including Alessio Cragno from Cagliari, Stefano Sensio and Andrea Ranocchia from Inter, Andrea Petagna from Napoli, Gianluca Caprari from Hellas Verona and Armando Izzo from Torino.
They also supplemented that by signing some players to build a talented core, such as Andrea Carboni from Cagliari, Samuele Birindelli from Pisa, Matteo Pessina from Atalanta, Warren Bondo from AS Nancy-Lorraine, Pablo Mari from Arsenal, Nicolo Rovella from Napoli and Marlon from Shakhtar Donetsk.
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Things started terribly for head coach Giovanni Stroppa and he lasted just five games, getting the sack on September 13 after losing the first five games of the season by an aggregate score of 13-2.
Raffaele Palladino took over and he has overseen a resurgence towards mid table, with a 1-1 draw against Lecce in his first game followed by wins against Juventus, Sampdoria and Spezia, all without conceding.
Monza lost 1-0 at Empoli in their last league fixture on Saturday, but they pulled off a remarkable 3-2 Coppa Italia win away at high-flying Udinese in midweek, having rested 10 regular starters.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Palladino is expected to field a 3-4-2-1 formation with on-loan Arsenal defender Pablo Mari in the middle of the back three, ex-Inter player Stefano Sensi in midfield and former Milan Primavera star Matteo Pessina in attack.
The main selection battles to resolve are whether Gytkjaer or Mota Carvalho start up front, and if Marlon gets the nod over Izzo. The only player out is Rovella, who got a two-match ban in the defeat to Empoli.
Probable Monza XI (3-4-2-1): Di Gregorio; Marlon, Mari, Caldirola; Ciurria, Barberis, Sensi, Carlos Augusto; Pessina, Caprari; Gytkjaer.
Head to head
Milan have played 11 games against the team now known as AC Monza, but they all came when they were known as Calcio Monza and there has never been a game in Serie A.
Milan have won 10 of the 11 matches, with 4-1 and 1-0 wins in the Coppa Italia in 1957-58 being the first matches, and the most recent being bad in the 1987-88 cup with the Rossoneri winning 2-0 in front of almost 45,000 fans in Monza.
The four previous league meetings all came during the Diavolo’s easily-forgotten spell in Serie B, with 2-1 and 1-0 wins in 1980-81 followed up by 1-0 and 4-1 victories in 1982-83.
Match facts…
➤ Monza will be the 11th side from Lombardia to face Milan in Serie A; only against Inter in 1929 have the Rossoneri lost their very first meeting against one of these sides (W6 D3).
➤ This will be Monza’s first Serie A away match in Lombardia; so far, the only side from this region they have visited are Atalanta, a 0-2 defeat at the U-Power Stadium in September.
➤ Milan and Monza faced each other in Serie B; the Rossoneri won each of their four such meetings, under Massimo Giacomini in 1980/81 and under Ilario Castagner in 1982/83.
➤ Milan have won each of their last six Serie A home matches against promoted sides without conceding a single goal; the last promoted side to win against them at the San Siro were Benevento in April 2018, thanks to a Pietro Iemmello strike.
➤ Milan have won seven of their first 10 Serie A matches to a season as a defending champion for the first time since 1992/93; they would go on to win a second title in a row that season.
➤ Monza have gained 10 points in 10 matches so far; in the last 20 Serie A campaigns, only four promoted sides out of 34 (12%) to have picked up at least 10 points at this stage in the competition were relegated at the end of the year (Benevento 2020/21, Frosinone 2015/16, Brescia 2010/11 and Lecce 2008/09).
➤ Sandro Tonali’s goal against Hellas Verona was Milan’s second following a direct attack in Serie A this season; only Sassuolo and Lecce have more in 2022/23 (three each). The Rossoneri have
made the most direct attacks overall in the competition so far (31).
➤ Milan’s Ante Rebic has delivered the most assists as a substitute in Serie A this season (two), while no player has been directly involved in more goals than Rebic as a substitute in the division this term (three, level with Beto, Luis Alberto and Pedro).
➤ Milan’s Olivier Giroud has failed to find the net in each of his four Serie A meetings against promoted side, although he has delivered two assists, against Empoli and Salernitana last season.
➤ In the four Serie A matches in which Dany Mota has started this season, Monza have earned two wins, one draw and one defeat (1.8 points-per-game on average) – in the other six matches, they have averaged just 0.5 points per game (W1 L5).
Ones to watch
As mentioned above, most of Ante Rebic’s contributions so far in the campaign have come as a substitute and he was the man who fed Tonali for the winner in Verona. However, he should get the nod from the first minute and will aim to replicate the brace he scored against Udinese in his last start at San Siro.
There will also be eyes on Simon Kjaer should he come back into the defence as is expected. There has been talk of shifting to a back three if that happens so the system will be interesting to watch, but mainly the fact that the Dane is now scrapping for a spot with the impressive Matteo Gabbia adds a layer of intrigue.
It has been a strange season for Monza in terms of establishing a danger man as Stefano Sensi is the top scorer but he has netted just twice, with seven players scoring once.
It feels like Gianluca Caprari is always a livewire worth watching as his time at Sampdoria showed, while Matteo Pessina would no doubt love to score against his former club. Both have one goal and one assist in league play this season.
Patrick Ciurria might be one to keep an eye on in the wing-back role as he has two assists in four starts from that role, while Pablo Mari is a threat from set pieces.
Prediction
If the Rossoneri are serious about furthering their title aspirations and taking advantage of a less daunting Serie A fixture list before the World Cup break (on paper of course), then this should be a comfortable win. However, don’t be surprised when Monza are very hard to break down and the deadlock might be frustrating to break.
AC Milan 2-0 Monza
2-1 Rebic and Brahim
Or 5-0 Origi hattrick, CDK, Pobega 😛
Let’s face it: any result other than victory will be shameful.