AC Milan will make the trip to the capital in search of their first win of the season when they take on Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday night.
With just one point obtained from a possible six, Milan have made their worst start to a Serie A campaign since 2011-12. A draw against Torino was followed up by a defeat against newly-promoted Parma, meaning is has been a far from ideal beginning.
The pressure on Paulo Fonseca has naturally been dialled up after a great preseason, and in his pre-match press conference he admitted that the early scrutiny of his tenure is fair in his eyes.
Game date: Saturday, August 31
Kick-off time: 20:45 (CEST)
Venue: Stadio Olimpico
Referee: Davide Massa (VAR: Mazzoleni)
Team news
After a week filled with media scrutiny about Fonseca’s choices and those of the management, a win is very much needed to calm things down and restore confidence in the new era.
However, the head coach will not be able to call upon Alvaro Morata, who battled through muscle discomfort in order to play in the Torino game which caused further damage to the issue. He will be out until after the international break.
The Spaniard is joined in the treatment room by Alessandro Florenzi, who suffered a cruciate ligament and lateral meniscus rupture and isn’t expected back for a long time yet. Marco Sportiello meanwhile continues to recover from a deep cut on his left hand that needed surgery.
Paulo Fonseca announced the call-up of the Milan Futuro quartet of Francesco Camarda, Kevin Zeroli, Davide Bartesaghi and Hugo Cuenca, and they will help fill some gaps given that there are a total of six players who will miss the trip.
Alvaro Morata, Marco Sportiello and Alessandro Florenzi are absent as was known before, but Malick Thiaw, Luka Jovic and Ismael Bennacer are added to the list. The latter two are officially out due to physical problems but there are still rumours involving a deadline day exit for each.
Thiaw sprained his ankle in training earlier this week and while it is only minor, it seems that the decision has been made not to risk him tomorrow night. Morata meanwhile should return after the international break.
According to the latest from Sky, Mike Maignan should be in goal with Davide Calabria, Fikayo Tomori, Strahinja Pavlovic the back four. Tijjani Reijnders and Youssouf Fofana are down as the midfield double pivot, and it would be a first start for the Frenchman.
Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Rafael Leao are expected to be the attacking trident behind the centre-forward Noah Okafor. The bench should consist of the likes of Samu Chukwueze, Camarda, Musah, Zeroli, Cuenca, Bartesaghi and Emerson Royal.
Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Tomori, Pavlovic, Theo Hernandez; Reijnders, Fofana; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao, Okafor.
The opponents
Lazio finished last season in seventh place, two points behind their rivals Roma and eight points off Bologna who secured the final Champions League spot.
There has been frequent change for the Aquile, with Maurizio Sarri sacked on 12 March and then Igor Tudor taking over, but he too left at the end of the season. Marco Baroni arrived from Hellas Verona to take charge.
It has been an interesting summer window for Lazio, who have recruited the likes of Loum Tchaouna from Salernitana, Tijjani Noslin from Verona, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru from Hatayspot and Nuno Tavares from Arsenal.
However, the additions of Gaetano Castrovilli on a free transfer, Gabriele Artistico from a club in Serie D plus the exits of Luis Alberto, Ciro Immobile, Felipe Anderson and Daichi Kamada have left question marks about what they should be aspiring towards.
The three absences for Lazio are expected to be centre-back Mario Gila who has a hamstring issue, Diego Gonzalez who also has a muscle problem and Luca Pellegrini who is recovering after being involved in a car accident. Nicolo Casale made a deadline day move to Bologna.
According to The Laziali, Lazio boss Marco Baroni should field a front three which has Isaksen and Zaccagni either side of Castellanos, with a midfield trio of Guendouzi, Rovella and Castrovilli.
Predicted Lazio XI (4-3-3): Provedel; Lazzari, Patric, Romagnoli, Tavares; Castrovilli, Rovella, Guendouzi; Isaksen, Castellanos, Zaccagni
Head to head
Milan have played 190 competitive matches against Lazio, with Torino, Roma, Inter and Juventus being the only sides that they have faced more in over 124 years of history.
The Rossoneri have amassed 86 wins, 64 draws and 40 defeats in that time, which is a win rate of 45.3%. They also have a positive goal difference of +82.
Milan did the double over the Biancocelesti last season, winning 2-0 at home with second half goals from Christian Pulisic and Noah Okafor, then emerging 1-0 victors in the capital with Okafor again scoring.
There have also been some hidings in the recent past at the Olimpico, such as the 4-0 defeat in 2022-23 and the 3-2 loss in 2020-21.
Key facts and stats
➤ Milan have won five of their last six league matches against Lazio (L1), including the most recent three without conceding a goal – the Rossoneri have not had a longer winning streak against the Bianconcelesti in Serie A since the period between 2003 and 2005 (a run of 5).
➤ Lazio and Milan have not drawn in Serie A since 25 November 2018 (1-1 in that case at the Olimpico) – eight Rossoneri victories and three Biancocelesti victories since.
➤ Milan won their last away match against Lazio in Serie A (1-0 on last 1st March); the last time the Rossoneri recorded two away successes in a row against the Biancocelesti dates to the period between 2007 and 2009 (a run of 3).
➤ Lazio could lose two of their first three matches of the season in consecutive Serie A campaigns for the first time since 1953-54 and 1954-55.
➤ For the first time since the 2011-12 season Milan have not won any of their first two games played in a Serie A campaign (draw with Lazio and defeat against Napoli) – in that case the Rossoneri then drew the third match (v Udinese).
➤ If they lose this match, Milan would record their worst start in Serie A in the three points for a win era, fourth worst overall in their history in the competition, after 1946-47, 1938-39 and 1930-31 (always winning 1 point in those seasons).
➤ Milan are the team to have attempted the most total shots (43), had the most touches into the opposition box (82), recorded the highest percentage of successful passes in the opposite half (88%) and made the most direct attacks (10) in Serie A this season so far.
➤ Mattia Zaccagni has been involved in four of Lazio’s last six home goals in Serie A (3 goals and 1 assist), after having not been involved in any of the Biancocelesti’s previous 14 home goals (excluding own goals).
➤ Rafael Leão is the player who has created the joint- most chances (7, level with Paulo Dybala), played the most balls into the opposition box (22) and attempted the most total shots (11, level with Valentín
Castellanos) in Serie A this term.
➤ With his eight tackles recorded against Parma, Strahinja Pavlovic became the player with the most tackles on his debut match for Milan in Serie A since the data has been available (since 2004-05).
Ones to watch
Leao and Pulisic combined for the equaliser in Parma and they will be expected to lead the attack again in the capital, but the outcome might hinge more on how Okafor does as a centre-forward and if Loftus-Cheek gets into the game as a No.10.
Milan need a better defensive performance without a doubt, and the eyes will be on the two summer signings Pavlovic and Fofana to see if they can reinforce the spine, while Theo will be called upon to improve drastically after a poor outing at the Tardini.
Lazio’s threat also comes from the wings, with Zaccagni a very tricky customer on the left and Isaksen looking like a good young talent on the right. Guendouzi’s combative abilities in the centre will be key for the Aquile too.
It will be a bit more heartfelt for Romagnoli and Castrovilli. The former captained Milan for years after arriving from Roma but left to join his boyhood club in 2022, while the latter has publicly stated before that he is a fan of the Rossoneri.
Prediction
It feels too early to call any game a ‘must win’, but Milan really are not far off that territory and will look to calm the storm. However, it also feels like a great time to play them.
Lazio 1-1 Milan