A season of ups and downs at AC Milan was perfectly encapsulated by their final two fixtures before the international break, in which they secured a spectacular 3-1 win away at Real Madrid before twice giving up the lead in a 3-3 draw with Serie A strugglers Cagliari. That saw them miss out on a first run of three successive victories since April, leaving Paulo Fonseca’s men six points adrift of the top-six, albeit with a game in hand.
The Rossoneri return to the San Siro where they lost their last outing 2-0 to league-leading Napoli, but a three-match winning streak on home soil prior should ensure the hosts are confident here. However, the arrival of Juventus doesn’t promise an immediate remedy as Milan have emerged winless from three of their last four home H2Hs (W1, D2, L1), failing to score in two of the last three.
Juventus start the round just a place above Milan in the Serie A table, yet they trail Napoli at the summit by two points after avoiding defeat in their opening 12 Serie A matches (W6, D6). Thiago Motta has built his side’s foundations on a water-tight defence that’s kept nine league clean sheets already in 2024/25 – they’re the first side to do that since 2014/15!
The Bianconeri signed off for the international break with back-to-back 2-0 league victories, and they enter this round with the joint-best away record in the division (W3, D2), only conceding on their Serie A travels against Inter. The road is also where Juve have found their clinical edge, netting 3+ goals four times in away outings across all competitions (W3, D1).
Players to watch: With his brace against Cagliari, Rafael Leão netted his 50th goal in Serie A, with four of the last five matches he’s scored in at club level featuring six total match goals (W1, D3). Meanwhile, four of Kenan Yıldız’s last five goals for Juventus arrived beyond the 70th minute, including his brace at this stadium against Inter earlier this term.
Written by Tomáš Vlasák ©️