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Milan have enjoyed a winning start to the season with a 1-0 victory at Sampdoria’s Luigi Ferraris stadium and will look to match city rivals Inter by securing all six points for fans’ long-awaited return to San Siro . against Cagliari.
Team news
Milan’s expected lineup remains the same as last week, with stars Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Frank Kessie listed as absent for the game and Ismael Bennacer is yet to be deemed fit for the game after contracting COVID during the summer offseason.
Mike Maignan will look to replicate his first spectacular performance against Sampdoria while the ever-present defense of Davide Calabria, Simon Kjaer, Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez will look to see that Maignan doesn’t see as much action as last time around.
In midfield, Rade Krunic is expected to replace Bennacer alongside Sandro Tonali who probably put in his best Milan performance against Sampdoria, demonstrating the defensive understanding and mobility in carrying the ball that we all hoped to see when he came out. first signed to the club.
The front line will also remain the same with the electric Rafael Leao on the left, Alexis Saelemaekers on the right and last week’s game winner Brahim Diaz just behind the striker where he played his best football for the club. At the top, Olivier Giroud will be looking for his first competitive goal for the club, he offered himself a few threatening moments against Sampdoria but ultimately failed to find the back of the net.
Likely Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Kjaer, Tomori, Hernandez; Krunic, Tonali; Saelemaekers, Diaz, Leao; Giroud.
The opponents
Cagliari started the season with a 2-2 home draw against Spezia coming back from a 2-0 loss with a brace from Joao Pedro in 4 minutes. The Sardinia side enter the season looking to establish an identity under the leadership of a relatively new manager, Leonardo Semplici, who was hired at the end of February last season. He took over a struggling team in the relegation zone and proceeded to an impressive streak of one loss in his last 8 games (W4 D3 L1) to keep the Premier League safe.
The club’s transfer window included the buyout of Razvan Marin on a 10million deal with Ajax and a 3.5million deal for Pescara young full-back Gabriele Zappa. As well as the explosion of ex-Serie A players with ex-Roma midfielder Kevin Strootman, Inter-full-back Dalbert and Alberto Grassi of Parma, all on loan.
Cagliari’s side are expected to line up in Semplici’s patented 3-5-2 with Diego Godin anchoring the defense, flanked by much sought after Nahitan Nandez on the right and the aforementioned Dalbert on the left, Marin and Strootman in midfield, and the prolific Joao Pedro teamed up with Leanardo Pavoletti upstairs.
Cagliari XI probable (3-5-2): Radunovic; Ceppitelli, Godin, Carboni; Nandez, Marin, Strootman, Deiola, Dalbert; Joao Pedro, Pavoletti
Face-to-face
These two teams have had an eventful head-to-head history, particularly last season’s 0-0 draw in Week 37, in which Milan could have secured a Champions League spot with a victory at residence. The game was incredibly tough until the end, but Cagliari’s defense held on, especially Diego Godin who had a comeback game to prevent the Rossoneri that day. The away game was much more favorable, however, with Milan securing a comfortable 2-0 victory thanks to Ibrahimovic’s brace.
Cagliari hasn’t beaten Milan in almost 4 years, going back to a 2-1 victory on the final matchday of the 2016/17 season in a game that also included a goal from Joao Pedro. In San Siro in particular, Milan have not lost to Cagliari in the last 10 matches dating back to 2011.
Match Facts (via LegaSerieA):
➤ Cagliari have lost more Serie A matches against Milan than against any other team (8V, 27N, 43). Their last victory against the Rossoneri dates back to May 2017 (2-1 at Sant’Elia stadium), with six defeats and two draws out of eight since.
➤ Milan have not conceded a goal in their last five Serie A matches against Cagliari; the last team the Rossoneri recorded more straight clean sheets against in the competition was Chievo in 2016 (seven in a row).
➤ Milan have lost only three of their 39 home matches against Cagliari in Serie A (8%); among the teams they have faced at least 20 times at home in the competition, only against Verona has a better percentage (o defeats in 29 matches).
➤ Milan have not conceded a goal in their last six league games, having kept only seven consecutive white goals in Serie A three times before: in February 1994 (nine), October 1993 (seven) and January 1972 ( seven).
➤ Milan could win their first two league games of the season in two consecutive Serie A campaigns for the first time since 2002/03 and 2003/04, under the leadership of Carlo Ancelotti.
➤ Cagliari are undefeated in their last four away league matches (V2 D2); since 2000, they have only had two long undefeated away runs: eight in December 2019 under Rolando Maran and five in November 2006 under Marco Giampaolo.
➤ Cagliari have drawn in three of their last four league games (L1), as many as in the previous 22 Serie A games (W6 L13).
➤ Stefano Pioli (59%) holds the second highest winning percentage in Serie A with AC Milan (41 wins in 70 matches), behind only Lajos Czeizler (64%: 73/114).
➤ Among the players who have scored at least five Serie A goals since the start of last season, Milan’s Brahim Díaz is the only one to have yet to score in a home game.
➤ João Pedro has not scored in any of his last four Serie A matches against Milan, having scored in each of his previous three; the Brazilian striker can become the fourth Cagliari player to score more than 3 goals in Rossoblu’s first two top-flight matches after Luigi Riva in 1968/69 (4), Roberto Boninsegna in 1968/69 (3) and Pasquale Foggia in 2007/08 (3).
Those to watch
For Cagliari, the man to watch is easy to identify, Joao Pedro has been their main goalscorer, scoring 34 league goals in the last 2 campaigns and posting a respectable record against Milan himself. Nahitan Nandez will also inspire a lot of respect on Milan’s left side, having been closely linked with Inter to replace Achraf Hakimi’s departure this summer.
As for Milan, they will continue to look for Giroud to score his first league goal for the club in a system that will also require him to associate the game consistently with players like Leao and Brahim Diaz. Alexis Saelemaekers is another player to look for after a very timid performance against Sampdoria, Dalbert is known to be an attacking winger, so this is a clash that the young Belgian will have the opportunity to exploit at the to come up.
Prediction
With notable absences down the middle and top and Semplici’s traditionally defensive style, Milan will look to control the ball in the opposing half of the pitch and look to win the war of attrition.
Prediction: AC Milan 1-0 Cagliari
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