AC Milan will start their 2024-25 Coppa Italia marketing campaign on Tuesday night time at San Siro as they tackle Serie B table-toppers Sassuolo.
Milan are buoyed by back-to-back wins within the Champions League and Serie A in opposition to Slovan Bratislava and Empoli, although a giant take a look at away from residence in opposition to Atalanta looms on Friday.
Thus, the pinnacle coach Paulo Fonseca has some choices to make in terms of choices, and he admitted as a lot in his pre-match .
Recreation date: Tuesday, December 3Kick-off time: 21:00 (CET)Venue: San SiroReferee: Kevin Bonacina (VAR: Nasca)
Crew information
The state of affairs that Milan face within the subsequent few days actually suggests the cup tie with Sassuolo won’t be given precedence. On Friday there’s a sport in opposition to Atalanta away from residence and .
Nonetheless, the followers consider that the Coppa Italia have to be a concrete goal and subsequently the squad should too. Taking to the sphere with the mistaken perspective and spirit may make it an embarrassing night time, given Sassuolo have stung Milan earlier than and are prime of Serie B.
The Coppa Italia is a trophy that Milan haven’t received for 21 years. The final time was again in 2002-03 when Carlo Ancelotti was in cost, as a 6-3 mixture win over Roma got here shortly after lifting the Champions League in Manchester in opposition to Juventus.
That’s the reason Fonseca should give the correct motivation to his group additionally as a result of the home cup could possibly be the ‘best’ trophy to win for Milan this 12 months. The Scudetto or the Champions League are usually not but presently practical, and the Supercoppa within the Center East might be a January lottery.
When it comes to group information, the three identified absences for this sport are Luka Jovic, Ismael Bennacer and Alessandro Florenzi. All three are presently recovering from respective again, calf and knee operations, with the primary two due again within the subsequent 4-6 weeks.
There are two extra so as to add to the listing although, and two high-profile gamers in Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez. The French duo because the goalkeeper has undergone a ‘minor dental surgical procedure’, whereas Theo suffered a bruised foot on the weekend.
The identical broadcaster are reporting that Marco Sportiello might be between the posts with Filippo Terracciano filling in at left-back. Davide Calabria, Fikayo Tomori and Strahinja Pavlovic ought to full the again 4.
There might be no relaxation for Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders in midfield it appears, although Samuel Chukwueze, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Noah Okafor may begin behind Tammy Abraham in what can be a rotated attacking group.
Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Sportiello; Calabria, Tomori, Pavlovic, Terracciano; Fofana, Reijnders; Chukwueze, Loftus-Cheek, Leao/Okafor; Abraham.
The opponents
Final season was a disastrous one for Sassuolo in some ways. After ending a snug thirteenth in 2022-23, they ended up with three head coaches and a relegation to indicate for it.
Alessio Dionisi was in cost till 25 February however was sacked after they dropped into the relegation locations for the primary time. Emiliano Bigica did no higher as a short caretaker, then Davide Ballardini got here in.
The Neroverdi misplaced 11 of 14 video games within the league from the beginning of December to the beginning of March and they might in the end by no means get well. They had been condemned to relegation in nineteenth place after 2-0 loss at residence to Cagliari within the penultimate spherical.
Italy’s 2006 World Cup hero Fabio Grosso was named the brand new head coach, and relatively predictably there was an exodus. Matheus Henrique, Martin Erlic, Nedim Bajrami, Georgios Kyriakopoulos and Ryan Flamingo all left, producing over €25m in revenues.
Davide Frattesi’s mortgage to Inter was become a everlasting for €31.4m too, whereas Maxime Lopez, Andrea Pinamonti, Gian Marco Ferrari and Gregoire Defrel all departed too.
Sassuolo spent cash on winger Nicholas Pierini, centre-back Automobile Odenthal plus the midfield duo Edoardo Iannoni and Fabrizio Caligara. Matteo Lovato and Horatiu Moldovan arrived on mortgage.
Grosso’s group have actually began the season nicely with 10 wins, 4 attracts and one defeat from their first 15 video games, opening up a three-point hole over Pisa in prime spot.
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Their most notable outcomes embrace a 2-0 win away at Lecce within the second spherical of the Coppa Italia, plus a 6-1 win over Cittadella and a 5-2 victory at Brescia. Additionally they hammered Salernitana 4-0 on the finish of November.
Sassuolo might be with out Josh Doig and centre-back Filippo Romagna who’re injured. They need to use a 4-3-3, with Lauriente and Berardi on both facet of Pierini, then Thorstvedt, Boloca and Obiang in midfield.
Grosso mentioned in his pre-match interview that he’s conscious of the standard that Milan have however he doesn’t need his facet .
Predicted Sassuolo XI (4-3-3): Moldovan; Toljan, Muharemovic, Odenthal, Pieragnolo; Thorstvedt, Boloca, Obiang; Berardi, Pierini, Lauriente.
Face to face
AC Milan have confronted Sassuolo in 23 aggressive matches all through their nearly 125-year historical past, with 12 wins, 4 attracts and 7 defeats producing a 52.2% win ratio.
The early iterations of the fixture had been intriguing because the Rossoneri and Neroverdi alternated wins for the primary eight video games from January 2014 to November 2016.
Domenico Berardi scored 4 within the first ever assembly with Sassuolo successful 4-3 within the sport that ended up getting Max Allegri sacked. The one time the 2 have confronted one another within the cup was on the similar stage in 2014-15, with Milan rising 2-1 winners at San Siro.
Christian Pulisic scored the one purpose within the league sport on the Meazza final season. On the Mapei Stadium it was a 3-3 draw as Luka Jovic and Noah Okafor bought Stefano Pioli’s group a degree from 3-1 down.
Key information and stats
➤ Milan have conceded 2 or extra targets in 11 of their final 20 matches.
➤ Sassuolo haven’t misplaced any of their final 12 matches and have received 8 of their previous 10 away video games.
➤ Sassuolo have scored 2 or extra targets in 7 of their previous 10 away matches and have saved 7 clear sheets of their previous 10 away video games.
➤ Fabio Grosso has confronted the Rossoneri 20 occasions in his profession however has solely 4 wins – one in all which got here in Coppa Italia.
➤ Since 2020, Milan have scored in all however one of many conferences between the 2 sides.
➤ Domenico Berardi is that this fixture’s all-time prime goalscorer – he has scored 11 in opposition to the Rossoneri in 20 conferences with one other seven assists.
➤ Prior to now 5 conferences, there have been seven targets from seven completely different purpose scorers for the Diavolo.
➤ Fonseca has solely received one sport in opposition to Sassuolo in 4 makes an attempt – he has not received any of his final three in opposition to the Neroverdi.
Ones to look at
There might be a number of ‘back-up’ gamers trying to show a degree for Milan. Loftus-Cheek has not been in good type this season so should present he can nonetheless play a beneficial position, whereas the identical may be mentioned for Chukwueze, and Abraham should rating with extra frequency.
Alternatives seem probably for Terracciano and Sportiello within the rearguard, and the centre-back pairing of Tomori and Pavlovic will hope to place Fonseca underneath much more strain to select a pairing and keep it up.
Berardi has scored 11 targets in opposition to the Rossoneri in his profession, with the primary 4 coming within the first assembly between the edges over 10 years in the past. Paolo Maldini really earlier than being sacked, and he has three targets at San Siro in opposition to Milan.
Lauriente is somebody the Diavolo know nicely too given he scored twice when these groups final met in April. Boloca is the anchor man and star of the midfield, whereas the now-veteran Toljan is at all times a menace going ahead from full-back.
Prediction
That is most unlikely to be a walkover given the shape Sassuolo are in and the firepower they nonetheless boast, particularly with Milan rotating a bit. Nevertheless, to get dumped out at this stage can be unacceptable, given the cup success drought too.
Milan 2-1 Sassuolo