AC Milan vs Crvena Zvezda Preview: Team News & Prediction
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AC Milan started the season slowly and do remain a bit off where they want to be but have improved as they now welcome Serbian champions Crvena Zvezda to San Siro this week.
Kick-off date/time: Wednesday 11th December, 2024: UK – 8:00pm / US ET – 3:00pm / US PT – 12:00pm
How to watch on TV: UK – TNT Sports / US – CBS Sports
How to watch online: UK – Discovery+ / US – Paramount+
AC Milan Preview: Depth of the Rossoneri
AC Milan have not been able to find a rhythm or consistency to propel themselves into the Serie A title race after a difficult start to the season and the Rossoneri come into this one on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Serie A league leaders Atalanta in Bergamo at the weekend.
Former Lille boss Paulo Fonseca has put together some impressive performances with a very deep squad that doesn’t necessarily make a lot of sense. In the UEFA Champions League, though, their last two outings have been away wins against Real Madrid and Slovan Bratislava.
Crvena Zvezda Preview: Struggles for Red Star
Crvena Zvezda, coached by Vladan Milojevic, come into this one on the back of a 6-0 demolition of Tekstilac in their most recent outing in the Serbian SuperLiga at the weekend. They are the dominant force in Serbian football and sit top-of-the-table with a 12-point lead at the moment.
In the UEFA Champions League, though, the Serbian champions have struggled with one victory and four defeats in their five games so far. Their most recent outing saw them hammer Stuttgart by five goals to one in Belgrade a couple of weeks ago.
AC Milan Team News: Pulisic injury
‘Captain America’ as he is nicknamed, Christian Pulisic, has enjoyed a strong season so far but he is dealing with a thigh injury for this week with other absentees including the experienced Alessandro Florenzi as well as Ismael Bennacer and Luka Jovic.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Emerson, Gabbia, Tomori, Hernandez; Reijnders, Fofana; Musah, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Morata
Unavailable: Florenzi (Injured), Bennacer (Injured), Pulisic (Injured), Jovic (Injured)
Questionable:
Crvena Zvezda Team News: Couple of absentees
The Serbians have a fairly strong and developing side but they do have a couple of injury absentees for this week such as Israel international goalkeeper Omri Glazer as well as key man Peter Olayinka.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Gutesa; Mimovic, Djiga, Spajic, Seol; Krunic, Elsnik; Silas, Maksimovic, Milson; Ndiaye
Unavailable: Glazer (Injured), Olayinka (Injured)
Questionable:
Key Stats
- Four of the previous six UEFA club competition matches between these two teams finished level. AC Milan won the other two.
- AC Milan have won three successive group/league matches in the same edition of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2004/05. They are now aiming to win four in succession for the first time since 2002/03.
- AC Milan have scored the first goal in four of their five UEFA Champions League matches this season.
- AC Milan have scored three goals in each of their last three UEFA Champions League matches. They had never previously scored three (or more) goals in three successive matches in the UEFA Champions League proper.
- AC Milan have kept only one clean sheet in their last 15 UEFA competition matches.
- Álvaro Morata needs one goal to reach the landmark of 30 goals scored in the UEFA Champions League proper. He would become the third Spanish player to reach the landmark, after Raúl González (71) and Fernando Morientes (33).
- Crvena Zvezda are aiming to win successive matches in the UEFA Champions League proper for the first time.
- Crvena Zvezda have won only two of their previous 24 UEFA club competition matches against Italian teams (D10 L12). They are without a win in nine (D4 L5), since a 3-1 victory at home against Roma in the UEFA Cup group stage in December 2005.
- Crvena Zvezda have lost all their previous 11 away matches in the UEFA Champions League competition proper.
- None of Crvena Zvezda’s last 22 matches in the UEFA Champions League competition proper finished without a goal being scored.
- Crvena Zvezda have scored a total of 297 goals in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League (all rounds).
AC Milan vs Crvena Zvezda Prediction
AC Milan have an excellent array of attackers but have perhaps found the best balance with Valencia midfielder Yunus Musah playing as a normal right-sided midfielder to get the best out of the likes of Rafael Leao and Alvaro Morata. They face a Crvena Zvezda side that are quite reliant on home advantage for good performance in this season’s UEFA Champions League and Milan, especially at San Siro, should get themselves a comfortable victory here.
AC Milan vs Crvena Zvezda Tip: AC Milan to win -1 handicap
