Yahoo Sports AC Milan vs Liverpool – Champions League Match Preview
San Siro is the venue and AC Milan are the opponent as Arne Slot embarks on his first Champions League outing as Liverpool manager.
In what is a repeat of the Champions League finals in 2005 in Istanbul, the scene of one of football’s greatest comebacks, and 2007 in Athens, this game promises to be a close encounter with both clubs steeped in European success.
There is a strong Premier League influence in the Milan roster, with six of their current players having experienced top-flight English football, including Three Lions internationals Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham.
Federico Chiesa is poised to make his debut in Liverpool red after travelling with Slot’s squad to Italy.
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Form
AC Milan: DLDW
It has been a turbulent start to the Serie A campaign for Milan as they only picked up their first win last weekend with a 4-0 dismantling of Venezia.
On his full debut, summer signing Tammy Abraham converted a penalty to complete the rout after Christian Pulisic, Theo Hernandez and Youssouf Fofana had all found the target.
Paulo Fonseca’s players had scored all four goals inside the opening half hour, with this merciless performance a release of frustration after a rough run of form.
Milan had salvaged a draw at home to Torino on the opening day with a late goal from Alvaro Morata and a 95th minute equaliser from Noah Okafor.
They subsequently fell to a disappointing defeat to Parma and again had to settle for a point against Marco Baroni’s Lazio.
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Liverpool: WWWL
After a faultless start to the Arne Slot era at Anfield, the Dutchman tasted defeat for the first time following a shock 1-0 home loss at the hands of Nottingham Forest.
Callum Hudson-Odoi’s curling strike midway through the second period caught out a Liverpool side that didn’t look at their best.
The result and performance was out of character for Liverpool as the Reds had comfortably won all their prior games without even conceding a goal this term.
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Last Meeting
AC Milan 1-2 Liverpool, Champions League, 7th December 2021
The two sides met fairly recently in this competition, when they were drawn together into Group B of the 2021/22 Champions League campaign.
Jurgen Klopp heavily rotated his personnel for their trip to Italy having already guaranteed top spot after collecting maximum points.
They overcame the Italian giants to inflict consecutive defeats on La Rossoneri, with Divock Origi netting the winner. Fikayo Tomori opened the scoring on the half hour mark, but Mo Salah restored parity with a poacher’s goal less than five minutes later.
The Italians needed to win to stand any chance staying in Europe, but after Tomori was dispossessed on the edge of his box by Sadio Mane, Stefano Pioli’s team were in trouble.
Mike Maignan’s wrist was strong enough to deny the Senegal international’s rasping effort, but Origi was perfectly placed to nod the ball over the despairing French goalkeeper.
That loss condemned Milan to the bottom of the group, with Atletico Madrid claiming the other qualification spot and FC Porto dropping into the Europa League.
Liverpool went on to reach the final that campaign but were denied their seventh Champions League title by serial winners Real Madrid. A virtuoso display from Thibaut Courtois couple with a goal from Vinicius Jr helped Los Blancos lift the coveted trophy for the fourteenth time.
Predicted Lineups
AC Milan: Maignan, Emerson Royal, Tomori, Pavlovic, Hernandez, Fofana, Reijnders, Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao, Abraham.
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Endo, Mac Allister, Gakpo, Diaz, Nunez.
Who is the referee?
The referee for the match is Norwegian official Espen Eskaas.
What TV channel is AC Milan vs Liverpool on?
AC Milan vs Liverpool is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. Fans can also listen to live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live.
What time is kick off?
Kick off at the San Siro is at 20:00 BST
Odds
AC Milan: 13/5
Draw: 29/10
Liverpool: 10/11
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