AC Milan face what is potentially their biggest test of the Serie A season so far as they make the trip to Bergamo to face an in-form Atalanta side.
Milan have emerged resurgent after the November international break with a frustrating draw against Juventus followed by wins over Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League, Empoli in the league and Sassuolo in the Coppa Italia.
Big-game failure was something the Rossoneri experienced too much last season and there is still pressure on Paulo Fonseca to show the team have taken a mental leap, as he admitted in his pre-match press conference.
Game date: Friday, December 6
Kick-off time: 20:45 (CET)
Venue: Gewiss Stadium
Referee: (VAR: Pairetto)
Team news
Milan did gain some ground on the top six teams over the weekend by beating Empoli as Fiorentina-Inter was abandoned following the collapse of Edoardo Bove, who we wish a speedy recovery to, while Juventus drew with Lecce and Lazio lost at Parma.
Nonetheless, the Rossoneri are still currently six points below Fiorentina in fourth, plus four points off Juve in sixth and 10 behind Napoli at the top (with a game in hand on both).
With an eye on the Atalanta game on Friday and with both Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez out, Fonseca made eight changes to the starting line-up for the Sassuolo game from the team that beat Empoli.
Given that it was 4-0 at half-time and the job was done he was also able to give a few players a bit of rest, though he did admit after the game that Ruben Loftus-Cheek came off with a slight muscle tweak and Marco Sportiello has a knee problem. Both, however, are back in contention.
The three known absences for this game are Luka Jovic, Ismael Bennacer and Alessandro Florenzi. All three are currently recovering from respective back, calf and knee operations, with the first two due back in the next 4-6 weeks.
As per the latest from Sky and La Gazzetta dello Sport, Fonseca will revert to using what now seems to be his ‘first choice’ line-up. First of all, Maignan and Theo will return to their respective goalkeeper and left-back spots.
Emerson Royal will return at right-back with Matteo Gabbia and Malick Thiaw at centre-back completing the rearguard alongside the two Frenchman. Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders will be in midfield again.
Yunus Musah will be on the right as Fonseca confirmed in his presser, meaning Christian Pulisic should be the attacking midfielder. Rafael Leao will be on the left side and Alvaro Morata leads the line.
Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Emerson, Gabbia, Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Fofana, Reijnders; Musah, Pulisic, Leao; Morata.
The opponents
The 2023-24 season was a successful one for Atalanta as they won a major trophy, finished in the top four (fourth) in Serie A again and got to another final.
It was the Europa League they lifted and it came after a fairytale journey. They beat Ruben Amorim’s Sporting CP and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool en-route to spanking Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen in the final in Dublin, ending their dreams of a perfect season.
With Gian Piero Gasperini remaining at the helm it was another busy summer for Atalanta. They spent over €96m to buy the likes of Charles De Ketelaere (loan to permanent, kicks in during February), Mateo Retegui, Raoul Bellanova, Ben Godfrey and Ibrahim Sulemana.
They also did some impressive loan and free transfer business. Nicolo Zaniolo, Odilon Kossounou, Lazar Samardzic and Marco Brescanini joined via loan formulas, with Juan Cuadrado and Rui Patricio adding experienced depth on Bosman deals.
However, as is always the case with the Bergamaschi, they also made some sales – €115m of them to be exact. Nearly half came from Teun Koopmeiners’ €54.7m move to Juventus, where he has not yet set the world alight.
The likes of Caleb Okoli, Aleskey Miranchuk, Nicolo Cambiaghi and Duvan Zapata went for between €8-12m as they continued their trend of player trading, ending the window with a profit.
Atalanta started the league season in a very shaky fashion, losing three of their first five games including a 4-0 thrashing at San Siro against Inter. However, since the start of October they have won eight on the spin to put themselves back in second.
The results speak for themselves: 5-1 against Genoa, 6-1 against Verona, 3-0 against Napoli away from home and most recently a 2-0 win at Roma.
La Dea are on a roll, and they are also fifth in the Champions League too. A 0-0 draw with Arsenal in round one was following by a 3-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk, a 0-0 draw against Celtic, a 2-0 win at Stuttgart and a 5-1 win in Switzerland against Young Boys.
As per Sky, Gasperini must pick a winner in the battle to start in the centre for the three-man defence, with Hien ahead of Djimsiti at the moment. In attack De Ketelaere is favourite over Retegui to face his old club and support Lookman.
Carnesecchi should be in goal with Kossounou and Kolasinac the outside centre-backs, then Bellanova and Ruggeri the wing-backs either side of De Roon and Ederson in midfield. Another ex-Milan man in Pasalic should operate behind the front two.
Predicted Atalanta XI (3-4-1-2): Carnesecchi; Kossounou, Hien, Kolasinac; Bellanova, De Roon, Ederson, Ruggeri; Pasalic; De Ketelaere, Lookman.
Head to head
AC Milan are in their 125th year of existence and they have played Atalanta 146 times in competitive games. The record reads 69 wins, 48 draws and 29 defeats, for a win rate of 47.3%.
Last season things went in favour of the Nerazzurri, who won the first league meeting at the Gewiss Stadium 3-2. Ademola Lookman scored a brace either side of an Olivier Giroud equaliser, then Luka Jovic looked to have snatched a point off the bench in the 80th minute. However, Luis Muriel came off the bench to score a 95th-minute winner.
Atalanta also trumped in the Coppa Italia quarter-final meeting too, with Koopmeiners scoring a brace including a second-half penalty to overcome Rafael Leao’s opener just before the interval.
In the league game at San Siro it was a familiar story, with Leao scoring just three minutes in but Koopmeiners hitting back three minutes before the break in an eventual 1-1 draw.
Key facts and stats
➤ Atalanta and Milan have drawn 45 of their 126 Serie A matches, with 26 Nerazzurri wins and 55 Rossoneri victories completing the tally; against no other team have the Bergamo club recorded more draws in the competition (45 also against Juventus).
➤ Since 2020-21 onwards, Milan have won four of their eight Serie A matches against Atalanta (D2 L2). During this period, the Bergamo club have lost more matches only against Inter (six) and Napoli (five).
➤ Atalanta won their last league match at the Gewiss Stadium against Milan (3-2 on 9 December 2023) and have only once achieved two consecutive home wins against the Rossoneri in Serie A: between November 2006 and January 2008.
➤ Atalanta (31) have won more than 30 points after 14 games played in Serie A for the first time in their history, considering three points per win all-time. Furthermore, the Bergamo team have obtained eight consecutive victories for the second time in Serie A after a streak of nine consecutive successes recorded between February and July 2020.
➤ Atalanta have scored at least two goals in each of their last 11 home games in Serie A, the longest ongoing streak of home games with at least two goals in the competition. Meanwhile, the last team to record a longer such run was Juventus: 12 between December 2019 and July 2020.
➤ Milan have kept a clean sheet in six of their last 10 league games, including clean sheets in their two most recent games; the Rossoneri have not kept three consecutive clean sheets in Serie A since February 2023, when the third was against Atalanta.
➤ Milan have won just two of their six away league games this season (D2 L2), but could remain unbeaten after their first seven awav games in Serie A for the first time since 2018-19 (W2 D3 L2).
➤ Match between the four Serie A players that have been involved in the most goals in the calendar year 2024 in all competitions: Charles De Ketelaere (30, 14G + 16A), Ademola Lookman (30, 19G + 11A), Rafael Leão (28, 16G + 12A) and Christian Pulisic (27, 16G + 11A).
➤ All three of Rafael Leão’s goals in Serie A this season have come away from home. Meanwhile, among those who have only scored away from home in the competition this term, no player has found the net more times than Razvan Marin, Davide Frattesi and Duván Zapata.
Ones to watch
While Milan’s attack has been in the headlines in recent weeks, it feels like a lot depends on the ability to nullify Atalanta, which is why the central trio of Gabbia, Thiaw and Fofana will be absolutely crucial for this one. Against such a potent forward line, a mistake-free game is almost a necessity.
Reijnders will of course be looking to continue his excellent form, while eyes will be on Musah to see if he can play that ‘balancer’ role again. Theo will aim to build on his five goal contributions in nine games against La Dea, and Pulisic has been a big-game man already this season.
De Ketelaere continues to be the star of the show for Atalanta and he recently set a Champions League record with five goal involvements in one game. In the league he has two goals and five assists, which is actually some way behind both Ademola Lookman (seven goals, four assists) and Mateo Retegui (12 goals, three assists).
The battle between Reijnders and Ederson in midfield will be fascinating to watch, though De Roon could be tasked with neutralising his compatriot. Hien is the anchor of the defence, while Bellanova has hurt Milan this season already (for Torino) and is a wing-back who covers the whole flank.
Prediction
We can see there being goals in this game given how potential both attacks have been in recent weeks. A draw would certainly suit the home side more, but a point wouldn’t be the worst result in the world for either side.
Atalanta 2-2 Milan
If we start Emerson royal we lose. Pretty simple.
Wow, you are so smart. That must be true. Except for the fact that he started when we beat Inter, and he started when we beat Real Madrid, and just about every other win we have had this season. Brilliant comment.
emerson was almost the reason we lost against madrid both of those goals were compleaty his fault and the fact he was the only player that didn’t get a pass
true
A point’s no good at this point – we’re not Juventus… If our defence can stay awake, midfield stay compact and attack put away their chances, we should win this one. Apart from the points and confidence boost, it’d be nice to beat this team who were super annoying over the summer – haggling over CDK like we’re in an Egyptian market.
We’re not fighting for the scudetto. End the delusion. It’s Atalanta, Inter and Napoli. We’re playing for 4th. Atalanta is having a great season. If we come out of the Gewiss with a point it will be a good achievement. Cleary a win would be great, but a point here is not a bad result.
We also haggle too.. Fofana, Tonali off the top..it’s basically karma at this point
I’m optimistic to be honest, and I like the lineup that will convert to 5 in the back when we defend. It worked against Madrid, so hopefully it will work again.
I would have liked to see Abraham instead of Morata as he connects better with Leao, but all and all I have a good feeling. Hope it doesn’t blow up in my face.
Surprise is possible just like in game against Juve.
If Milan managed to keep 100% of concentration on defence, and keep clean sheet , 0 – 0 or ac win with one goal is possible.
I hope for 0 – 1 Milan win.
Both offenses are good. I doubt that this game will have only one goal.
Thanks for Acmilan to recover their style of play but Acmilan should not allow Atlanta to hold the ball or to control the we should control the ball and play our pressings and score more goals.
Up milan for life
Winning is for sure here
The formation is gud by me.
Winning is for sure? Atalanta has scored 38 goals and conceded 5 in their last 11 games in all competitions (10 wins, 1 draw), and they have an overall +20 goal differential in Serie A (more than twice our total).
We have been poor in Serie A away games.
Winning is by no means guaranteed here. This is Atalanta, the 2nd placed in Serie A (only 1 point behind the leaders, which they defeated 3-0) and 5th placed in the Champions League (where they have scored 11 goals and conceded 1), and the reigning Europa League champions that dominantly beat the vaunted and up to that point, undefeated Leverkusen (after also beating Liverpool and Sporting CP).
Our coach has never defeated Atalanta’s coach.
This will be a VERY difficult game for us, and I certainly hope we will win but to say it’s sure, I shake my head.