TORINO v AC MILAN: OPPONENT REVIEW

After the spectacular 4-1 home win against Monza in the last round and the four-goal win in the Champions League against Dinamo Zagreb, AC Milan are looking for a fourth consecutive win away from home in Serie A by taking on Torino, an encounter at the Olimpico Grande Torino on Sunday evening at 20:45 CEST. On the other hand, Ivan Jurić's team, after a draw and four defeats in five matches, refound their form with a victory at home to Udinese, and are now looking for some continuity that they have been lacking since the first three games of the league season (two victories against Monza and Cremonese, and a draw against Lazio).

More specifically, the Granata are looking for a second consecutive victory in the league, which they have not achieved since last January (against Fiorentina and Sampdoria back then). Despite the newfound form of the opponents, AC Milan come into this challenge after four consecutive victories in the top flight and 17 away matches without a loss in the competition (12 wins and five draws, giving Stefano Pioli's team the longest open unbeaten streak away from home in the top five European leagues).

BALL RECOVERY AND PASSING, THE KEYS TO UNDERSTANDING JURIĆ'S TEAM
Which Torino will AC Milan face in this challenge? The side led by Ivan Jurić are third for balls recovered (672) after Verona and Atalanta, and fourth for goals after an offensive recovery (18) only behind AC Milan (20), Fiorentina and Napoli (both at 19), tend to want to build quick and fast actions thanks to their ball recovery ability and dribbling, especially in the opponent's half. In fact, they are the team to have completed the fourth most passes in the opponent's half of the pitch (after Fiorentina, Napoli and Monza) and the third in terms of sequences of at least 10 passes finished with a shot or a touch in the area (26) after Napoli (38) and Lazio (27).

So pay attention to two aspects that characterise the formation implemented by Jurić. The first one has to do with the development of attacking moves in the side channels. Despite the fact that Torino have yet to score a goal following a cross, there have been 39 of them (like Sassuolo), confirming one of the three formations that excel in this particular set-up - only Fiorentina (53) have bettered the two sides' record. The second, on the other hand, has to do with aerial play: Torino are third in aerial duels won (168) in the league, behind Verona (184) and Sampdoria (175). 

FORMER PLAYER PELLEGRI AND VLAŠIĆ THE REVELATION
Despite only 10 goals scored by Torino in the league, there is no shortage of threats for the Rossoneri defence. Two stand out: Pietro Pellegri and Nikola Vlašić. The former, an ex-player who in the first part of last season with AC Milan stuggled with some injuries (only six appearances), is now fully recovered, scored against Udinese in the last Serie A match, and aims to continue his goalscoring form. The last time he scored in two appearances in a row in the league was in 2017, against Roma and Lazio, for Genoa.

The latter, on the other hand, has three goals in the current league season and is currently the top scorer among the Granata. The Croatian, who arrived on loan from West Ham in the summer window, came into the limelight between August and September (three appearances and three goals scored in matches against Cremonese, Atalanta and Lecce) proving to be a real surprise among the Torino ranks. That is why he became one of Ivan Jurić's starters (10 starts out of 11 this season), who entrusted him with the number 10 role in the development of attacking moves. In fact, it is no coincidence that, after the opponent of the day Rafael Leão (20), he is the one who so far has recorded the most dribbling moves ending with a goal in this Serie A season (14) and, above all, after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (77), the one who has taken part in the most plays ending with a shot by his own team (72, four of which have resulted in goals).

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