AC MILAN v JUVENTUS: FUN FACTS

Third big match at home in a row in the league for AC Milan who, after playing Inter and Napoli, prepare to welcome Juventus at San Siro. The match-up between the Rossoneri and the Bianconeri is a constant in Italian football, a decades-long rivalry that has enflamed the spirits of generations of fans. Let's review the most interesting statistics and numbers related to the 9th matchday of Serie A.

THE BALANCE IN THE PAST
The Bianconeri have the upper hand in league history between the two teams, and for both teams their opponent is the team against which they have lost the most games in Serie A: 51 AC Milan wins against Juventus, 67 for the Bianconeri against the Rossoneri. In Milan, the balance is in favour of the reigning Italian champions: 29 wins to 24 for the Diavolo, with 34 draws (56 overall between the two teams) to complete the total. In recent seasons the traditional fixture has been more favourable to AC Milan, who are unbeaten in four of their last five matches against Juventus, including both of last season's encounters which ended in draws: 1-1 in Turin and 0-0 at the San Siro.

GOAL IN SIGHT?
A repeated result of the most recent fixture - the 0-0 on 23 January - would mean something not seen for over 40 years. Indeed, since 1978-1979 AC Milan and Juventus have not drawn without a goal in two consecutive matches played in the Lombard capital. Two consecutive draws, even with goals, between the two teams at San Siro, on the other hand, has not been seen since 2009.

SLOW START
The start of this season has brought ups and downs for Pioli and Allegri. AC Milan, for example, have only collected two clean sheets in this championship, when they had finished 2021/22 with six games with a clean sheet in their last eight played. Juventus, on the other hand, have only picked up two points in their three away matches this season (2D, 1L). Overall, the Bianconeri have one point less (13 to 14) than in the first eight matchdays of last season, while Milan have five fewer (17 this year, 22 last season).

STRENGTHS
The Rossoneri excel in offensive recoveries - no team has collected more in the last two Serie A seasons - and they are good at exploiting them to score a goal, as evidenced by the 10 goals scored, over the period, in this type of move. AC Milan are also one of the teams to have recovered the most points from losing positions (seven, only Udinese have done better with 12) and so far they have never lost points once they have gone ahead in the score (five wins out of five). Finally, the Rossoneri are the team that has scored the most goals in the second half (11) and on this day they face one of the teams that has conceded the fewest goals in the second half so far: Juventus have conceded two goals between the 46th and 90th minutes.

RAFA'S NUMBERS
Rafael Leão is the player with the most goal involvements in 2022 in Serie A (22: 11 goals + 11 assists). In the 20-team Italian league only two Rossoneri players have done better, Kaká in 2008 (27: 15+12) and Ibrahimović in 2020 (26, 20 goals and 6 assists). The Portuguese striker comes off an excellent performance in Empoli, which brought his season total to 4 goals and 4 assists, numbers that are currently unmatched in Serie A: the goal in the comeback against the Tuscans is the 11th in counterattacks for Milan since the start of last season, the best record in the league. The Rossoneri number 17 also boasts a special connection with Juventus, against whom he scored in his first two matches at the San Siro: a goal in July 2020 and an assist in January 2021.

OLI AND ANTE
Olivier Giroud is one of the great stars of this early season: the Frenchman has played an active part in four of the last five goals scored by AC Milan at San Siro and, should he take the field against Juve, he would collect his 50th appearance for the Rossoneri in all competitions. Behind Giroud is Ante Rebić, who returned to Empoli in the last round and scored immediately. Since his arrival as the Rossoneri, the Croatian is the player who has scored the most goals against Juventus (4, like Simeone and Malinovskyi) in all competitions, and is the best so far in this league in terms of average minutes/goal with a goal every 49 minutes played.

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