9 FACTS ON AC MILAN v VENEZIA

"Now comes the difficult part," said Coach Pioli following Juventus v AC Milan. AC Milan v Venezia at 20:45 CEST tomorrow, Spezia v AC Milan at 15:00 CEST on Saturday: two potential banana skins that the team must approach with the right mentality and get absolutely right. First up, it’s the Lagunari, who returned to Serie A after 19 years away from the Italian top flight and come into the San Siro showdown on the back of a defeat to Spezia. Paolo Zanetti’s side will be looking to make a good impression at San Siro and must not be underestimated. Here are a few facts and figures to start to get into the mood for the match:

DIRECT ENCOUNTERS
1- AC Milan and Venezia are set to face each other for the 25th time in Serie A, with the Rossoneri having won 14, drawn four and lost six against the team from Veneto. At home, the Diavolo’s record reads as follows: seven wins, four draws, one defeat.

2- AC Milan will be meeting Venezia in a top-flight match for the first time in 7150 days. Indeed, the last encounter between the sides in Serie A ended in a 4-1 Rossoneri win at the Stadio Penzo on 24 February 2002.

3- The Rossoneri have lost just one of their last 19 fixtures against newly promoted sides in Serie A. 13 AC Milan wins and five draws complete the picture, with the Diavolo having also kept eleven clean sheets.

GENERAL STATS
4- No team has conceded fewer goals than AC Milan so far this Serie A season. The Rossoneri have shipped two, both of which came during the first 15 minutes of play.

STATE OF PLAY
5- Should they win, AC Milan would have the same number of points after five matchdays as they did in 2020/21: 13. This is a feat that they’ve only achieved on two other occasions in the last 20 seasons (2002/03 and 2003/04).

6- AC Milan have kept a clean sheet in seven of their last nine Serie A fixtures, conceding just two in total. Previously, it had taken the Rossoneri 31 games to record the same number of shutouts in the Italian top flight.  

PLAYER FOCUS
7- Rafael Leão found the net in the Rossoneri’s first two fixtures at San Siro this season. Since the start of the three-points-per-win era, only five Diavolo players have scored in each of AC Milan’s first three home matches in Serie A: Weah and Baggio in 1996, Bierhoff in 1999, Shevchenko in 2000 and Inzaghi in 2002.

8- Ante Rebić has been involved in eight goals in his last seven matches in Serie A: he’s scored five times and provided three assists.

9- Alexis Saelemaekers’s next appearance will be his 50th in Serie A.

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