Milan vs Juventus Preview and Lineups – Serie A Round 9

The newest chapter of a long-standing Serie A rivalry between Milan and Juventus takes place at the Stadio San Siro on Saturday. Fatigue could be taking its toll on either side after both teams featured in midweek Champions League action.

While injury-crippled Milan fell to a dreadful 3-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, making their Group E life complicated, Juventus claimed a crucial 3-1 home triumph over Group H minnows Maccabi Haifa. And while the Rossoneri failed to seize control of the top spot in their section, the Bianconeri have thrown their stuttering Champions League season a lifeline. 

Stefano Pioli’s growing injury list played a massive part in Milan’s underwhelming showing in London, leaving them a point adrift of the top spot in Group E. On the other hand, inspired by Angel Di Maria’s sublime hat-trick of assists, Juventus arrested a two-game losing Group H start and can now turn their attention back to Serie A.

After a frustrating 2-1 home defeat to fellow Scudetto hopefuls Napoli on the eve of September’s international break, Milan flew out of traps after the Serie A restart. Three second-half goals, including two deep into stoppage-time, fired Pioli’s team to a morale-boosting 3-1 victory at Empoli last time out. 

As for Juventus, following a series of wasteful performances in September that had seen them go winless in all five competitive games last month (D2, L3), Massimiliano Allegri’s men returned to the win column last weekend. Inspired by the Serbian duo Dusan Vlahovic and Filip Kostic, the record-time Italian champions hammered bottom-half strugglers Bologna 3-0 in Turin. 

Match Preview

Milan 

Despite losing their most recent league outing at San Siro, Milan can draw confidence from their improving Serie A record against Juventus. After suffering 13 defeats in 14 top-flight duels against long-term rivals (W1), the Rossoneri have only lost once in their last five league meetings (W2, D2). But both encounters between these Italian heavyweights in 2021/22 produced uneventful, low-scoring draws. 

It looks like Milan have had Juventus’ number of late, which encourages Pioli’s bid to avoid losing back-to-back Serie A home matches for the first time in charge of the seven-time European champions. Before slumping to Napoli, the Rossoneri had won six consecutive league fixtures at San Siro, keeping a clean sheet on four occasions during that run. 

But now that Simon Kjaer and Theo Hernandez are injured, Milan could face an uphill battle to keep Juventus at bay twice in a row for the first time since 2010. While waiting for star summer signing Charles De Ketelaere to get off the mark in the new shirt, Pioli will rely on the proven duo Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud to shoulder the scoring burden on the other side of the field.  

Juventus

After overcoming an unfathomable September crisis, Juventus will be keen to send a statement of intent at the San Siro. However, the visitors’ sub-par showings outside Turin have seen them go winless on all three Serie A road trips this season (D2, L1). Therefore, their bid to beat Milan for the first time after three-straight failed attempts (D2, L1) looks a bit stretched. 

Much of their problems on hostile turf have emanated from lackluster performances by Massimiliano Allegri’s frontline. Indeed, Juventus have drawn a blank twice across their three Serie A away games this season, with Arkadiusz Milik’s chested goal remaining their solitary strike on the road thus far. With Di Maria unavailable due to suspension, Allegri will have to rely on someone else to carry the creative responsibility. 

Vlahovic should be Allegri’s leading man on Saturday, yet the Serbian star has played three Serie A matches at Meazza without scoring. Only at Sassuolo’s Mapei Stadium has he recorded more top-flight appearances without finding the net (four). But Juventus’ faithful will hope their talismanic striker can buck that trend at the weekend. 

Milan vs Juventus Potential Line-ups

AC Milan (4-2-3-1): Ciprian Tatarusanu; Sergino Dest, Pierre Kalulu, Fikayo Tomori, Fode Ballo-Toure; Ismael Bennacer, Sandro Tonali; Ante Rebic, Charles De Ketelaere, Rafael Leao; Olivier Giroud. 

Juventus (4-4-2): Wojciech Szczesny; Juan Cuadrado, Danilo, Gleison Bremer, Alex Sandro; Leandro Paredes, Weston McKennie, Manuel Locatelli, Adrien Rabiot; Filip Kostic, Dusan Vlahovic.