10 FACTS AHEAD OF AC MILAN V BOLOGNA

A new Serie A season is set to begin, and AC Milan will play at San Siro on matchday one. It’ll be another match that takes place behind closed doors, but one which the Rossoneri will approach with desire and determination. Coach Pioli’s men are preparing to host Bologna, against whom they’ll be aiming to win and start their season in the best way possible, continuing where they left off last season in the process. Ahead of tonight’s 20:45 CEST kick-off, here are ten pieces of trivia that you should know.

DIRECT ENCOUNTERS

1- AC Milan have won eight of their last nine league matches against Bologna, including the last three. The Rossoneri are also the team that Bologna have conceded the most goals against in Serie A (229).

PREVIOUS MATCHES AT SAN SIRO

2- AC Milan have won their last four home matches against Bologna in the league. Out of the teams currently in Serie A, only against Cagliari can the Rossoneri boast at having an ongoing longer winning streak at San Siro (15).

3- Bologna have lost 42 matches away to AC Milan in Serie A. Only against Juventus have they suffered more league defeats on the road (43).

GENERAL STATISTICS

4- AC Milan and Bologna are set to face each other on matchday one for the third time in Serie A. So far, it’s one victory apiece (the Rossoneri won in 1998 and the Rossoblù emerged victorious in 2008).

5- For the second time in their history, AC Milan will play their opening Serie A fixture on Monday. The last and only time this happened was on 1 September 2003, when Kaká made his Rossoneri debut against Ancona.

6- AC Milan haven’t tasted defeat in any of their last twelve league matches (W9, 3D), with this being the longest current unbeaten run in Serie A. Furthermore, only Atalanta (47 points and 55 goals) have picked up more points and scored more goals than the Rossoneri (45 points and 47 goals) in the Italian top flight in 2020.

PLAYER FOCUS

7- In the post-lockdown period, Çalhanoğlu is the player who has been involved in the most goals in Serie A: 14 (six goals and eight assists). Bologna are the only team against whom Hakan has both scored and provided an assist in the same match on more than one occasion in the league (twice).

8- Ibrahimović has contributed to 14 goals in the 15 opening day fixtures he’s played in the Top 5 European leagues during his career: ten goals and four assists. Zlatan has been involved in six goals in seven matches against Bologna in Serie A (four goals and two assists).

COACH FOCUS

9- Stefano Pioli’s longest spell as a Serie A coach came at Bologna, where he remained for 89 league matches (W27, D28, L34). Meanwhile, Sinisa Mihajlović was in charge of AC Milan for 32 fixtures in Serie A between 2015 and 2016 (W13, D10, L9).

10- Pioli has remained undefeated in seven of his last ten encounters against Mihajlović as a coach in Serie A (W5, D2)

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