AC Milan are set to host La Liga champions Atletico Madrid in a crunch UEFA Champions League clash on Tuesday.
Venue: San Siro
Key statistics
- AC Milan lost both of their encounters against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League 2013/14 season.
- Atletico started this season’s UCL with a draw against Porto. They have failed to win two of their openings games in the 2017/18 season – 0-0 draw against Roma and 1-2 defeat to Chelsea.
- Milan’s track record against Spanish opponents in the European competitions leaves a lot to be desired as they have managed to win only one out of the last 17 games.
Head to Head record
Atletico have won two of the three games they have played against Rossoneri.
Recent form
Milan: W W D L W W (Goals for 13, Goals against 6)
Atletico Madrid: W W D W D W L (Goals for 6, Goals against 5)
AC Milan
AC Milan are proving to be a force to reckon with in Serie A this season as they have picked up 5 wins in 6 games so far.
Their opening game in the Champions League ended in a defeat against Liverpool although Rossoneri were praised for their impressive performance at Anfield.
Stefano Pioli’s side are coming off a hard-fought against Spezia away from home, with Brahim Diaz scoring a late winner.
Milan have the advantage over La Liga giants Atletico Madrid, who have been struggling of late.
Tomorrow night the desire and enthusiasm will not be lacking because we are returning to play in the Champions League in front of our fans. It will be an important game […] we certainly want to move off of zero points in the group.
It was crucial that Giroud played some minutes against Spezia [on Saturday]. He will regain his form in our upcoming matches.
[Atlético] are among the top sides in La Liga, they are a solid and balanced team with a very good coach. We will have to play a top-quality game from a technical point of view.Stefano Pioli, AC Milan coach
Possible line-ups
Mike Maignan; Theo Hernandez, Fikayo Tomori, Simon Kjaer, Davide Calabria; Ismael Bennacer, Franck Kessie; Brahim Diaz, Alexia Saelemaekers, Ante Rebic; Olivier Giroud
Unavailable
Bakayoko (Achilles), Krunić (calf), Ibrahimović (Achilles), Messias (fitness)
Doubtful: Florenzi (knee), Kjær (thigh)
Atletico Madrid
Atletico are running low in confidence following their lacklustre performances in recent weeks.
They have managed to pick up only one win since their draw against Porto in the opening matchday of UCL. Simeone’s men also ended up on the losing side in the weekend league game against Alaves.
Antoine Griezmann has been dormant since his return from Barcelona and the French superstar is yet to register a single shot on target.
Los Rojiblancos will have to face an uphill battle to see out the group of the death which contains Milan, Liverpool and Porto.
Playing against a team like AC Milan in the Champions League is fantastic. They are a top team that have grown in recent years.
We know that we are going to face a strong team with good, dynamic players. We will try to attack them where we can hurt them.”
Diego Simeone, Atlético Madrid coach
Possible line-ups
Jan Oblak; Jose Gimenez, Felipe, Mario Hermoso; Kieran Trippier, Yannick Carrasco, Koke, Rodrigo De Paul, Marcos Llorente; Joao Felix, Luis Suarez
Unavailable
Savić (suspended)
Probability
AC Milan Win : Draw : Atletico Madrid Win :: 34%: 30% : 36%
Prediction
Milan 2 – 1 Atletico
