After losing the first leg against Inter in the Champions League . For the Rossoneri, Wednesday night was a letdown because they never had much of a chance against their rivals from the city. They can consider themselves fortunate that the score is just 2-0 going into the second leg, but they still have a long way to go.
Prior to the game, Stefano Pioli delivered an update on the injury situation and acknowledged that the upcoming four days will define the season.
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Ismael Bennacer’s knee injury delivered Milan another setback in addition to the lopsided loss to Inter. It goes without saying that the team will suffer a great loss with the midfielder sidelined for the remainder of the campaign.
Rafael Leao is making a lot of effort to recuperate from his injury, but Milan won’t take a chance before the second leg against Inter, therefore he won’t be available. Tomorrow, Malick Thiaw will be suspended, and it has also been confirmed that Junior Messias and Rade Krunic will not play due to muscular issues. Prior to the match in Liguria, Pioli appears to have decided on his starting lineup, which consists of Mike Maignan in goal, Simon Kjaer and Fikayo Tomori as the center backs, and Theo Hernandez on the left. At right-back, Davide Calabria outperforms Pierre Kalulu.
After losing the first leg against Inter in the Champions League
Sandro Tonali will have to put in more effort in the middle of the field because Bennacer and Krunic are injured, and Tommaso Pobega will play the double pivot alongside him.
Divock Origi, Ante Rebic, and Alexis Saelemaekers are all expected to start in attack, and Charles De Ketelaere is expected to start in offensive midfield.
Aster Vranckx and Tonali could be paired in the midfield by Pioli, who might switch Pobega to the position of offensive midfielder.
Spezia has had a really difficult season and they may be demoted at the conclusion of it. When Leonardo Semplici took over the team in February, they went three games without a loss and only managed one victory (at Inter on the road).
However, they have failed to win a game since, drawing three of their last eight contests. With the exception of one game, their previous five have all been in defeats, which speaks volumes about the challenging time the squad is going through.
It’s not really surprising given their roster that they are competing at the bottom of the standings. Nevertheless, one might anticipate that they would perform better if players like Dragowski, Ekdal, Nzola, and Gyasi were on the team.
Thus, tomorrow’s game will be crucial because a victory would put them 30 points ahead of Hellas Verona. Daniel Maldini, a Spezia player on loan from Milan, will miss the game due to an injury (he scored in the previous meeting).
Milan will be aiming for a better outcome against Spezia on Saturday after three draws in its last five league games. In reality, the Rossoneri have won four of the six games in this series, which has never finished in a draw.
Last time around, Milan won 2-1 thanks to Olivier Giroud’s game-winning goal in the 89th minute. Theo Hernandez had opened the scoring before to then, but Daniel Maldini, a Milan loanee, of all people, canceled out Theo Hernandez’s goal.
Milan also triumphed 2-1 against Spezia in their most recent away match, with Maldini scoring the Rossoneri’s first goal. But in that one, Brahim Diaz scored the game-winning goal.
Spezia and AC Milan have never drawn in their six encounters across all competitions. The Rossoneri have won four of those encounters (three in Serie A, including the first leg in November, and one in Coppa Italia), while Spezia has won two of them (both in the top division).
In their last eight league games, Spezia have gone winless (D3 L5), which would be their longest winless streak in Serie A history (eight also between November 2020 and January 2021).
Spezia have failed to score in 10 of their 19 games from 2023, which is more than in all 34 Serie A games from 2022 combined. Since they were promoted to the top level (2020/21), only Sampdoria have recorded more games (40) without scoring than the Ligurians (34).
➤ Just 46% of Milan’s Serie A points this season have come in 2023 (28/61), the lowest ratio in the division.
➤ AC Milan have gained 23 points in the second part of this Serie A season: six wins and five draws (L4); the last time the Rossoneri had gained fewer points in the first 15 games of the second half of the season in Serie A was in 2016/17 (20).
➤ AC Milan are unbeaten in their last 17 Serie A away matches against opponents who were in the bottom three of the standing at the start of the matchday (W11 D6); their last such defeat was in December 2017, against Verona (3-0).
