AC MILAN v TOTTENHAM: OPPONENT REVIEW

On Tuesday 14 February 2023, Valentine's Day, the Champions League returns to San Siro. AC Milan's most recent European fixture at home was the 4-0 win over FC Salzburg on 2 November; 104 days and a World Cup have come and gone since then. The Champions League anthem will sound again as the Diavolo play in the knock-out rounds of the competition for the first time since 11 March 2014 when they were beaten by Atlético Madrid in the quarters. Tottenham, who are unbeaten in their four games against the Rossoneri (W2, D2), come to San Siro to take on Pioli's side.

Antonio Conte will be looking to equal his best-ever season in Europe as coach: the quarter-finals with Juventus in 2012/13. Spurs' recent form has been rather up and down as they have lacked the consistency in results that we have come to expect from the Italian coach's sides. After beating Guardiola's Manchester City 1-0 at home, the Lilywhites lost last time out in the Premier League, falling to a crushing 4-1 defeat away at Leicester City. The North London club qualified from their Champions League group ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt, Sporting CP and Olympique Marseille, though not without issue.

DEAD-BALL SITUATIONS
AC Milan will need to be extremely alert at set pieces. Since the start of this season, Tottenham have added a true set piece technician to their coaching staff: Gianni Vio, who was tutored by Zenga and was part of Roberto Mancini's staff for EURO 2020, which Italy won. The results are noticeable, as Spurs have been very prolific from dead-ball situations this season. Among the sides left in the Champions League, only Napoli (21) have scored more goals from set pieces than Tottenham (17) in all competitions in 2022/23. Furthermore, Spurs have scored the most goals from corners (11) and the most headers (12) in the current Premier League campaign. On the other hand, out of the (13) teams in the round of 16 that play in one of Europe’s Top-5 leagues, only RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt (both 15) have conceded more than AC Milan (14) from set-pieces.

THE HARRY KANE FACTOR
Spurs' talisman is, without a doubt, Harry Kane. On 5 February, the English striker scored against Manchester City to become Spurs' all-time leading goalscorer (267) in all competitions, overtaking Jimmy Greaves (266). In the same match, Kane became just the third player to score 200 goals in the Premier League, after Alan Shearer (260) and Wayne Rooney (208). Another player that the Rossoneri will need to be aware of it Ivan Perišić. The Croatian, who is well acquainted with Italian football, provided five assists against AC Milan during his time in Serie A and hasn't had more against any other side in Europe's Top-5 teams. Dejan Kulusevski also spent time in Italy before making the switch to North London. The young Swede has settled into life in England quickly, earning the trust of Antonio Conte. Since arriving in the Premier League (February 2022), only Kevin De Bruyne (17) has provided more assists than Kulusevski (13) in, currently, the best league in the world. An impressive stat for a young player who has already assisted a goal against AC Milan at San Siro: on 6 January 2021 in a 3-1 win for Juve.

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