Following the disappointing derby defeat at the hands of bitter rivals Inter, Milan attempted to bounce back in the Champions League against Newcastle. However, it wasn’t their evening.
Despite an onslaught on the Newcastle goal, none of Milan’s 26 efforts on goal got past Pope in goal. The team will be disappointed not to pick up all three points in this challenging group.
Group F’s other game saw Paris Saint-Germain win at home against Borussia Dortmund in what has been dubbed the Group of Death. PSG were the favourites going into the first round of fixtures and have solidified this with odds at many bookmakers reviewed in this article of around 4/6 to win the group and 1/5 to qualify.
Milan will be hopeful that the French champions will beat both Newcastle and Dortmund home and away to further their own chances of progression. Last night’s home draw sees Milan drop to third favourite to win or qualify from Group F at odds of 5/1 and 13/8.
Newcastle are the second favourites to win at 3/1 and are 4/6 to qualify. Dortmund’s defeat sees their odds of qualification stretch to 2/1, and they are now 8/1 to win the group.
The current favourites overall for the Champions League are reigning champions Manchester City with odds of around 9/4. Milan is seen as an outsider at 50/1, however, negotiating their tough group would give the team a significant boost in confidence.
Among other Italian teams in the tournament, Inter are the favourites at 20/1. Napoli’s odds are currently 25/1, and Lazio are 100/1, putting Milan somewhere in the middle.
Milan’s odds might offer good value to those who have followed the club’s transfer goings on over the summer. There weren’t too many significant losses, but the money made from selling midfielder Sandro Tonali to Newcastle looks to have been invested wisely.
The £55 million transfer fee allowed Stefano Pioli to bring in Pulisic and Loftus-Cheek from Chelsea, Chukwueze and Musah from La Liga, as well as Tijani Reijnders and Noah Okafor to bolster his squad.
The majority of these signings have been made to bolster the midfield and provide some dangerous attacking options.
Milan fans will be hoping these players settle in quickly and the creative flair of Rafael Leão leads them to some impressive victories. One player that will be instrumental to any success Milan enjoys in Europe this year will be Olivier Giroud. The experience and guile of the veteran striker have seen him top the all-time international goalscorer charts for France, and he has also netted 36 times in 90 games for Milan. We can’t say how often he might score in the Champions League, but he’s currently around 66/1 at most sportsbooks to be the tournament’s top scorer.
