AC Milan face what’s probably their greatest check of the Serie A season as far as they make the journey to Bergamo to face an in-form Atalanta aspect.
Milan have emerged resurgent after the November worldwide break with a irritating draw in opposition to Juventus adopted by wins over Slovan Bratislava within the Champions League, Empoli within the league and Sassuolo within the Coppa Italia.
Huge-game failure was one thing the Rossoneri skilled an excessive amount of final season and there’s nonetheless strain on Paulo Fonseca to indicate the staff have taken a psychological leap, as he admitted in .
Sport date: Friday, December 6Kick-off time: 20:45 (CET)Venue: Gewiss StadiumReferee: (VAR: Pairetto)
Crew information
Milan did acquire some floor on the highest six groups over the weekend by beating Empoli as Fiorentina-Inter was deserted following the collapse of Edoardo Bove, who we want a speedy restoration to, whereas Juventus drew with Lecce and Lazio misplaced at Parma.
Nonetheless, the Rossoneri are nonetheless at the moment six factors under Fiorentina in fourth, plus 4 factors off Juve in sixth and 10 behind Napoli on the high (with a sport in hand on each).
With an eye fixed on the Atalanta sport on Friday and with each Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez out, Fonseca made for the Sassuolo sport from the staff that beat Empoli.
Provided that it was 4-0 at half-time and the job was accomplished he was additionally capable of give just a few gamers a little bit of relaxation, although that Ruben Loftus-Cheek got here off with a slight muscle tweak and Marco Sportiello has a knee downside. Each, nevertheless, are again in competition.
The three recognized absences for this sport are Luka Jovic, Ismael Bennacer and Alessandro Florenzi. All three are at the moment recovering from respective again, calf and knee operations, with the primary two due again within the subsequent 4-6 weeks.
As per the newest from and , Fonseca will revert to utilizing what now appears to be his ‘first alternative’ line-up. Initially, 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 finishing the rearguard alongside the 2 Frenchman. Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders will likely be in midfield once more.
Yunus Musah will likely be on the correct as Fonseca confirmed in his presser, that means Christian Pulisic ought to be the attacking midfielder. Rafael Leao will likely be on the left aspect and Alvaro Morata leads the road.
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 profitable one for Atalanta as they received a serious trophy, completed within the high 4 (fourth) in Serie A once more and obtained to a different ultimate.
It was the Europa League they lifted and it got here 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 within the ultimate in Dublin, ending their goals of an ideal season.
With Gian Piero Gasperini remaining on the helm it was one other busy summer time for Atalanta. They to purchase the likes of Charles De Ketelaere (mortgage to everlasting, kicks in throughout February), Mateo Retegui, Raoul Bellanova, Ben Godfrey and Ibrahim Sulemana.
Additionally they did some spectacular mortgage and free switch enterprise. Nicolo Zaniolo, Odilon Kossounou, Lazar Samardzic and Marco Brescanini joined by way of mortgage formulation, with Juan Cuadrado and Rui Patricio including skilled depth on Bosman offers.
Nevertheless, as is all the time the case with the Bergamaschi, additionally they made some gross sales – €115m of them to be precise. Almost half got here from Teun Koopmeiners’ €54.7m transfer to Juventus, the place he has not but 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 pattern of participant buying and selling, ending the window with a revenue.
Atalanta began the league season in a really shaky trend, dropping three of their first 5 video games together with a 4-0 thrashing at San Siro in opposition to Inter. Nevertheless, because the begin of October they’ve received eight on the spin to place themselves again in second.
The outcomes communicate for themselves: 5-1 in opposition to Genoa, 6-1 in opposition to Verona, 3-0 in opposition to Napoli away from dwelling and most not too long ago a 2-0 win at Roma.
La Dea are on a roll, and they’re additionally fifth within the Champions League too. A 0-0 draw with Arsenal in spherical one was following by a 3-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk, a 0-0 draw in opposition to Celtic, a 2-0 win at Stuttgart and a 5-1 win in Switzerland in opposition to Younger Boys.
As per Sky, Gasperini should choose a winner within the battle to start out within the centre for the three-man defence, with Hien forward of Djimsiti for the time being. In assault De Ketelaere is favorite over Retegui to face his outdated membership and assist Lookman.
Carnesecchi ought to be in aim with Kossounou and Kolasinac the skin centre-backs, then Bellanova and Ruggeri the wing-backs both aspect of De Roon and Ederson in midfield. One other ex-Milan man in Pasalic ought to function behind the entrance two.
Predicted Atalanta XI (3-4-1-2): Carnesecchi; Kossounou, Hien, Kolasinac; Bellanova, De Roon, Ederson, Ruggeri; Pasalic; De Ketelaere, Lookman.
Face to face
AC Milan are of their one hundred and twenty fifth 12 months of existence they usually have performed Atalanta 146 occasions in aggressive video games. The document reads 69 wins, 48 attracts and 29 defeats, for a win fee of 47.3%.
Final season issues went in favour of the Nerazzurri, who received the primary league assembly on the Gewiss Stadium 3-2. Ademola Lookman scored a brace both aspect of an Olivier Giroud equaliser, then Luka Jovic appeared to have snatched a degree off the bench within the eightieth minute. Nevertheless, Luis Muriel got here off the bench to attain a Ninety fifth-minute winner.
Atalanta additionally trumped within the Coppa Italia quarter-final assembly too, with Koopmeiners scoring a brace together with a second-half penalty to beat Rafael Leao’s opener simply earlier than the interval.
Within the league sport at San Siro it was a well-recognized story, with Leao scoring simply three minutes in however Koopmeiners hitting again three minutes earlier than the break in an eventual 1-1 draw.
Key details and stats
➤ Atalanta and Milan have drawn 45 of their 126 Serie A matches, with 26 Nerazzurri wins and 55 Rossoneri victories finishing the tally; in opposition to no different staff have the Bergamo membership recorded extra attracts within the competitors (45 additionally in opposition to Juventus).
➤ Since 2020-21 onwards, Milan have received 4 of their eight Serie A matches in opposition to Atalanta (D2 L2). Throughout this era, the Bergamo membership have misplaced extra matches solely in opposition to Inter (six) and Napoli (5).
➤ Atalanta received their final league match on the Gewiss Stadium in opposition to Milan (3-2 on 9 December 2023) and have solely as soon as achieved two consecutive dwelling wins in opposition to the Rossoneri in Serie A: between November 2006 and January 2008.
➤ Atalanta (31) have received greater than 30 factors after 14 video games performed in Serie A for the primary time of their historical past, contemplating three factors per win all-time. Moreover, the Bergamo staff have obtained eight consecutive victories for the second time in Serie A after a streak of 9 consecutive successes recorded between February and July 2020.
➤ Atalanta have scored a minimum of two objectives in every of their final 11 dwelling video games in Serie A, the longest ongoing streak of dwelling video games with a minimum of two objectives within the competitors. In the meantime, the final staff to document an extended such run was Juventus: 12 between December 2019 and July 2020.
Extra Tales / The Match
➤ Milan have saved a clear sheet in six of their final 10 league video games, together with clear sheets of their two most up-to-date video games; the Rossoneri haven’t saved three consecutive clear sheets in Serie A since February 2023, when the third was in opposition to Atalanta.
➤ Milan have received simply two of their six away league video games this season (D2 L2), however may stay unbeaten after their first seven awav video games in Serie A for the primary time since 2018-19 (W2 D3 L2).
➤ Match between the 4 Serie A gamers which were concerned in probably the most objectives within the calendar 12 months 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 objectives in Serie A this season have come away from dwelling. In the meantime, amongst those that have solely scored away from dwelling within the competitors this time period, no participant has discovered the online extra occasions than Razvan Marin, Davide Frattesi and Duván Zapata.
Ones to look at
Whereas Milan’s assault has been within the headlines in latest weeks, it seems like rather a lot depends upon the power to nullify Atalanta, which is why the central trio of Gabbia, Thiaw and Fofana will likely be completely essential for this one. In opposition to such a potent ahead line, a mistake-free sport is sort of a necessity.
Reijnders will in fact be seeking to proceed his glorious type, whereas eyes will likely be on Musah to see if he can play that ‘balancer’ function once more. Theo will intention to construct on his 5 aim contributions in 9 video games in opposition to La Dea, and Pulisic has been a big-game man already this season.
De Ketelaere continues to be the star of the present for Atalanta and with 5 aim involvements in a single sport. Within the league he has two objectives and 5 assists, which is definitely a way behind each Ademola Lookman (seven objectives, 4 assists) and Mateo Retegui (12 objectives, three assists).
The battle between Reijnders and Ederson in midfield , although De Roon may very well be tasked with neutralising his compatriot. Hien is the anchor of the defence, whereas Bellanova has harm Milan this season already (for Torino) and is a wing-back who covers the entire flank.
Prediction
We are able to see there being objectives on this sport given how potential each assaults have been in latest weeks. A draw would definitely go well with the house aspect extra, however a degree wouldn’t be the worst outcome on the earth for both aspect.
Atalanta 2-2 Milan