AC MILAN v TORINO: OPPONENT REVIEW

AC Milan wants to show a big reaction and get back to winning ways. On Serie A matchday 22, they have the chance to do just that as they welcome Ivan Jurić's Torino to San Siro on Friday evening. Stefano Pioli's side will need to put in a big performance against one of their bogey teams. The Granata have beaten AC Milan on two occasions this season (in the reverse fixture in the league and in the Coppa Italia) and go into this game on a four-game unbeaten run away from home (W1, D3), a longer run than at any point in their 14 prior away games in Serie A (W6, L5). 

The Piedmontese side have been in excellent form of late and come into this game fresh from a victory and clean sheet against Udinese. They currently sit on 30 points in the table and have won eight games this season. In the three-points-per-win era, the only time that Torino have won nine games in their first 22 games in a Serie A season was in 2021/22, under current boss Jurić. They're a well-drilled team and can hurt anybody but this is also the perfect game to relaunch the Rossoneri's season, to rediscover that spirit that has defined Pioli's AC Milan.

A COMPACT SIDE, NOT MUCH ROOM IN BEHIND
Jurić has made his Torino team tough to beat as they sit deep and are very compact. This is shown by two stats. First, only Inter, Fiorentina and AC Milan have conceded fewer offensive recoveries than the Granata (129). Second, Torino don't play with a high line and are tough to counter against: the Granata have conceded just one goal on the break in Serie A this season, only Napoli (none) have done better.

Furthermore, the Piedmontese outfit doesn't allow a lot of space between the lines. As we're accustomed to with Jurić teams, they also don't let teams get in behind. The Granata have scored just one goal from direct attacks, the third-best figure in the league this season behind Lecce and Napoli (none). Moving as a unit means that Torino very rarely get caught off guard when pushing players upfield. AC Milan has had the most counterattacks (29) this season, and the most shots following a counterattack (25), but will be coming up against one of the most adept sides and shutting down the breakaway.

MIRANČUK'S CLASS, SANABRIA GOOD ON THE ROAD
Torino's most in-form player right now is, without a doubt, Aleksej Mirančuk, who scored against the Rossoneri in the reverse fixture in the league. The Russian trequartista has scored two goals and provided one assist in 2023 so far, meaning he has been directly involved in 50% of the Granata's post-World Cup goals. We should also keep an eye on Antonio Sanabria because the player with the most away goals without having scored at home in Serie A this season (all of the Paraguayan's goals have come away from home). The Torino centre-forward has provided one assist in his two games against AC Milan in Serie A, for Genoa in March 2020 at San Siro.

Look out for Ola Aina on the wings too, as he grabbed an assist last time out, his first in 41 Serie A matches. The Nigerian full-back has, to date, scored and assisted in the same season on just one occasion, in 2018/19 when he scored one and assisted three. Jurić has been full of praise recently for the Chelsea academy graduate, and he could be one of the surprise stars for Torino in the second half of this season. 

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