Preview of series A: Napoli against AC Milan

An important collision that you could call the Champions League decrees awaits Milan in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona against Napoli.

Before the international break, Milan managed to win two consecutive victories, and thus increased her confidence and at the same time brought the top 4 destination to life. As highlighted by Sergio Conceicao During his press conferenceThe game of tomorrow will be very difficult.

Game date: Sunday, March 30th
Start time: 20:45 (CEST)
Venue: Stadio Diego Armando Maradona
Referee: Simone Sozza (Var: Meraviglia)

Team messages

In the past few weeks it has been a good time for Milan with two wins, both comebacks and the new hope in the top four race. The international break was also not bad for the Rossoneri because there were no injuries, while several players strengthened their respective self -confidence.

Emerson Royal is still injured and Yunus Musah will serve a suspension, but apart from this Conceicao, it has a completely healthy squad. Ruben Loftus-Cheek came from the bank against Como and did a good job in training, while Alessandro Florentzi also arrives there.

According to the latest reports, the manager will play it safe for the big game and continue a backline from Kyle Walker, Matteo Gabbia, Malick Thiaw and Theo Hernandez. At this point it is only important to achieve results and the consistency should help.

In midfield, the fans may still have a few questions about how Yousufouf Fofana has looked decent lately. However, it seems that Conceicao will choose Warren Bondo and Tijjani Reijnders in tandem, so that Loftus-Cheek can play in the role of No. 10 right from the start.

The Englishman and Reijnders, now a must in the XI, will probably change the positions throughout the game, based on what the attacks look like. It should be Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao on the flanks, although reports from a start for Joao Felix, who does not have to impress completely, have started today.

Tammy Abraham has probably been the best for No. 9 in the past few weeks and should therefore get the chance of Santiago Gimenez. The Mexican will be an important resource from the bank, but the Englishman was much better in terms of participation in Open Play.

Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Walker, Gabbia, Thiaw, Theo Hernandez; Bondo, Reijnders; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Abraham.

The opponents

After introducing Antonio Conte as the new head coach, while he made some good reinforcements (including Alessandro Buongiorno), many expected Napoli to be up there at least this season. Not to mention the lack of European football, which obviously helps with calm.

It was the case that Napoli was currently in second place in second place, and her strength became clear after the first ten games when they won eight. Apart from that, the feeling is also that the situation could have been much better at this point.

In the last seven games, the Partenopei have only collected eight points after a win, five draws and a defeat. This run contains some tougher games and at least they have not lost much, but it is also true that they could now easily have been in the first place.

Inter currently has a three-point pillow at the top and while Napoli can definitely regain this until the end of the season, the word ‘bottle’ can be remembered in this case. Of course, it remains to be seen what will happen in the season finale.

Check out injuries and suspensions Conte confirmed during his press That Leonardo Spinazzola will miss the game as a whole. Frank Anguissa returned from the international duty in a sub -optimal state and Noah Okafor is still fighting with his physical condition.

Okafor left Milan to have loaned the parteope to buy in January when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia left Paris Saint-Germain. You can understand the frustration of Conte in this sense, since the Swiss international was not nearly so good.

Predicted Napoli XI (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Buongiorno, Olivera; Gilmour, Lobotka, Mctominay; Politano, Lukaku, Raspadori.

Head

This is a classic game in Italian football, in which Milan and Napoli have so far taken into each other 176 times. The Rossoneri have 70 victories of their name, while the Partenopei have 52, with the remaining 54 games in pullers (in other words, a rather common result).

The away record is also quite positive for Milan, currently on an unbeaten run of six games. Her last defeat in Stadio Diego Armando Maradona came in the 2018-19 season when Gennaro Gattuso’s team brought a 2-0 lead in bottles in the second half.

The last encounter in the stadium ended 2-2 after Napoli came back from two goals to achieve one point. Olivier Giroud scored both goals for the Rossoneri, in a quick way that we should add.

However, Napoli prevailed quite comfortably in the reverse device this season, according to the gates of Romelu Lukaku and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The San Siro record is indeed much weaker for Milan, which may be good for tomorrow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULLECT6FXHK

Key facts and statistics

➤ In the last 12 meetings of Serie A between Napoli and AC Milan, both sides won four games (D4) after the Parttenopei in each of their last eight games against Rossoneri was undefeated and six won during this period.

➤ AC Milan is undefeated in all of her last six away games (W3 D3) against Napoli in all competitions and never took seven consecutive games on the street in their history without defeating the Azzurri.

➤ Napoli (61) has 14 points more than AC Milan (47) in the table: Only in three of the 153 earlier games between the two sides of Serie A, the Azzurri have the Rossoneri with a higher advantage (+15 on February 8, 2014; +25 on April 15, 2018 and +23 on April 2, 2023).

➤ Only against Roma (nine) Napoli has lost more games after Italian national team games than against AC Milan (eight against Inter). In total, Azzurri and Rossoneri met 18 times after such games, with five victories for Partenopei, five draws and eight victories for the Diavolo.

➤ Since the beginning of February, Napoli has been profitable in six of his seven series A games (D5 L1): one more than in her first 22 games in the current top flight season (D2 L3). In addition, the Azzurri would be only eight points during this period, which have been earned since the beginning of the 23rd game day.

➤ AC Milan has collected 47 points in 29 games in the current league season: Since the return of the series in 20 teams in 2004/05, only one team has ended the season in the top four positions after receiving a maximum of 47 points in the ranking in the ranking list with nine games, Sampdoria 2009/10 (quarter).

➤ After the victory against Lecce (3-2) and Como (2: 1), AC Milan was able to win three games in series A in a row for the first time since last September: against Venezia, Inter and Lecce under Paulo Fonseca.

➤ AC Milan and Napoli are two of the four teams who won the most points in Serie A this season: 15 for the Rossoneri (together with Atalanta) and 14 for the Azzurri – Bologna first at 16.

➤ Since his debut in Serie A in 2019/20, Romelu Lukaku had been involved in eight goals (6 g+2a) in 818 minutes against AC Milan in all competitions. 144 ‘).

➤ Since he joined Rossoneri last season, Christian Pulisic (30g+17a) has been one of only two players in series A, both of whom have scored at least 30 goals and achieved at least 15 templates in all competitions and ademola Lookman (35g+15a).

To watch those

For Milan, if the reports are correct, see Loftus cheek Back from the start for the For the first time since December will indeed be exciting. It cannot be denied that his physical presence on the field is the question of whether it can be composed on the ball and can become known in the box.

We will also go with another Englishman, namely, namely AbrahamGiven the fact of how well he has played recently. The assist against Como for Reijnders was absolutely wonderful and it seems to fit Conceica’s playing style really well. On the other hand, it must also be fatal in and around the penalty area …

For the home team, Buongiorno Was strongly connected to Milan before he went to Napoli and he was very solid this season. It will be very interesting to see how he will do against the Rossoneri attacker.

Further up on the field, Mctominay Was a key player with seven goals and four templates in all competitions. He knows how to drive the ball forward and are in the right place at the right time, so Milan has to be careful.

forecast

In my opinion it will be difficult for both sides, and so much is at stake. The last train for the Champions League against the last train (or at least one of the last) for the Scudetto. I think Milan could give Napoli a real run for her money, especially given the positive last weeks, but maybe it will not be enough to get victory.

Napoli 1-1 AC Milan