Our next opponents: High tempo and lots of quality up front

Position

Ahead of the clash with the Werkself, AC Milan clocked up a third win in succession in Serie A last Friday night. The Rossoneri only needed five minutes to score the three goals in the 3-0 win against Lecce at the Giuseppe Meazza. Alvaro Morata, Theo Hernandez and Christian Pulisic scored for the hosts who scarcely had a chance before that. The first goal came from a set-piece: A free kick from Hernandez was headed into the roof of the net by Morata. Three minutes later, Hernandez scored himself converting a pass from Rafael Leao to make it 2-0. Pulisic rounded off the scoring at three-though with a tap-in. The hosts settled down in the second half as they steered home the victory. Only the red card shown to substitute AC Milan defender Davide Bartesaghi for serious foul play on 80 minutes caused a stir. The win against Lecce took AC Milan up to third place in Serie A.

The current season began with mixed results for last season's runners-up. The team led by coach Paulo Fonseca only picked up two points in the first three games. The Portuguese coach, who had previously been at AS. Roma and most recently at Lille, took over from long-standing AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli in the summer. AC Milan only scored their first win on matchday for following two draws against Torino and Lazio (both 2-2) and a 2-1 defeat against Parma. A 4-0 home win against newly promoted Venezia was followed by a 3-1 defeat against Liverpool also at the Giuseppe Meazza in the opening match in the Champions League. The Rossoneri then made a statement in the Derby della Madonnina against last season's champions Inter Milan. A high quality match at the San Siro ended in a 2-1 win for AC Milan. Pulisic gave his team an early lead with a goal at the end of an impressive solo run. After the equaliser from Federico Dimarco, the AC Milan central defender Matteo Gabbia was the matchwinner with a powerful headed goal from a free kick just before the final whistle. It was the first derby win for AC Milan in many years.

The 19-time champions of Italy from the capital of Lombardy are in the Champions League for the 21st time. They have won Europe's premier club competition three times (1993/94, 2002/03 and 2006/07).

Personnel

The new coach Paulo Fonseca has a high quality squad with several big new signings. This summer, AC Milan brought in the defenders Strahinja Pavlovic (RB Salzburg) and Emerson Royal (Tottenham Hotspur). The France international Yussouf Fofana (AS. Monaco) was signed as a defensive midfielder and the Rossoneri attack was strengthened with the addition of Alvaro Morata (Atletico Madrid), captain of the Spain team, and Tammy Abraham (on loan from AS Roma). The latter is familiar to the Werkself from the last two seasons with Abraham playing for AS Roma against Bayer 04 twice in the Europa League semi-finals.

Established key players in the team, in addition to goalkeeper Mike Maignan, are left back Theo Hernandez, captain Davide Calabria, Matteo Gabbia and Fikayo Tomori. The Düsseldorf-born player and three-time Germany international Malick Thiaw has only played once this season. Thiaw was a youth player at Bayer 04 for a year from 2010 to 2011 before moving on to Borussia Mönchengladbach and Schalke 04 where the 23-year-old made 26 Bundesliga appearances. Also familiar from his time in the Bundesliga is AC Milan midfielder Christian Pulisic. The 26-year-old speed merchant and skilful dribbler played for the youth teams at Borussia Dortmund before going on to make 127 appearances for BVB where he scored 19 goals and provided 26 assists. After his time with the Black and Yellows he joined Chelsea but the USA captain has been at AC Milan since 2023. He scored 12 goals in his first season and was the second highest scorer for the Rossoneri behind Olivier Giroud (15). 37-year-old Giroud joined Los Angeles FC in the MLS in the summer.

The key player in central midfield for AC Milan is the Netherlands international Tijjani Reijnders, who played 36 of 38 league games last season and has been an ever present in the starting line-up this term. As is the Englishman Ruben Loftus-Cheek who has almost always been in the starting XI this season.

Another former Bundesliga player has only been a substitute to date: striker Luka Jovic. The Serbia international scored 40 goals in 93 games for Eintracht Frankfurt and then played for Real Madrid and Fiorentina. Jovic has worn the red and black Milan jersey for a year but has only played three times this season.

Problems

The Italian team's defence did not look good against Liverpool. Against the attacking Reds, AC Milan conceded eleven shots on goal and could have lost the game by an even bigger margin. The Fonseca team were particularly susceptible at set-pieces. The first two goals conceded came with headers from a free kick and a corner for Liverpool. Last term the runners-up in Serie A displayed weakness in defence and conceded 49 goals. This season AC Milan have only kept a clean sheet once in the league.

Performers

AC Milan currently have the best attack in Serie A with 14 goals in six games. Last season, the Rossoneri scored the second highest number of goals (76) behind champions Inter Milan (89). Above all, Christian Pulisic has been in outstanding form. The USA international gave his team the lead against Liverpool once again showing his incredible pace and clinical finishing. In the derby against Inter, Pulisic made half the champions defence look old with a solo run. The 26-year-old has scored five goals in seven games. A lot of danger also comes from the Portugal player Rafael Leao, Pulisic's teammate on the left wing. Up front, Alvaro Morata, Tammy Abraham and Noah Okafor are amongst the best attacking players in Serie A.

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