AC MILAN v SALERNITANA: OPPONENT REVIEW

After the defeat by Torino last time out, AC Milan want to win in front of their fans to bid farewell to a season that is coming to an end. The Rossoneri have won only one of their last six league games (3D, 2L), after having recorded a series of five consecutive victories. At San Siro, the Diavolo have lost only once in their last 13 Serie A matches (9W, 3D), scoring 28 goals (an average of 2.2 per match) and keeping a clean sheet in six of these. In addition, AC Milan have won each of their last six matches on the final day of the season in Serie A. On the other hand, Salernitana, who have failed to win in 19 league fixtures, are to finish bottom of the league: the side from Campania have earned only 16 points in 37 matches this campaign, making it one of the four worst teams ever, along with Ancona (13 in 2003/04), Napoli (14 in 1997/98) and Brescia (12 in 1994/95), in a single edition of the tournament in the three-points-for-a-win era.

The Granata have become the fourth non-newly promoted team in the Italian top flight to lose at least 25 matches in a single season (2W, 10D, 25L in the current campaign), after Triestina in 1946/47 (25), SPAL in 2019/20 (28) and Sampdoria in 2022/23 (25). Colantuono's team have shown they want to end their adventure this season in the best possible way. In fact, the side from Campania forced a respectable 1-1 draw against Juventus in their last Serie A away match and are looking for two successive games without defeat on the road for the first time in the competition since the period between March and April 2023 (five draws in a row on that occasion, including a 1-1 draw against the Rossoneri at San Siro).

SALERNITANA: LOTS OF DIFFICULTIES AND LITTLE JOY
To demonstrate Salernitana's woes this season are two pieces of data: the first concerns the number of goals conceded (78), a record for the team from Campania in a single Serie A season on par with the 2021/22 season, while the second, a consequence of the first, refers to just two clean sheets kept, with only Sheffield United having a worse record in Europe's top-five leagues in 2023/24. Turning to going forward, the problems for the team coached by Stefano Colantuono are highlighted above all in having control of the ball in the opponent's box and in finishing in front of goal. In fact, the Granata are both the team to have had the lowest pieces of possession in the opponent's penalty area (581) and have attempted the fewest shots (386, of which only 114 on target) in this year's competition. In addition to these characteristics, it can be seen that they have obviously struggled in managing the final stages of games.

Backing this up are the 26 goals conceded between the 76th and 90th minute, resulting in conceding the most number of goals in the last 15 minutes of play in this Serie A season. Furthermore, extending this to second-half injury time, Salernitana are one of four teams, along with Genoa, Sassuolo and Udinese, to have conceded the most number of goals in this part of the match (seven).

THE INDESTRUCTIBLE ANTONIO CANDREVA AND THE YOUNG TCHAOUNA
Despite Salernitana's aforementioned struggles in front of goal, the Rossoneri defence will have to watch out for two players most of all: Antonio Candreva and Loum Tchaouna. The experienced midfielder (501 games), who has just passed the milestone of playing 500 games in Serie A, becoming the 17th player with the most appearances in the history of the competition, has been involved in nine goals against AC Milan in the last 15 Serie A seasons (since 2009/10, four goals and five assists against the Rossoneri) and, in this period, no midfielder has done better against the Diavolo in the top flight (also Josip Iličić with nine).

Instead, the 2003-born player has showed off all of his qualities in attacking areas, improving his performances game after game to become one of the most interesting foreign Under-21 players in Serie A this season. In fact, the Frenchman, originally from the Republic of Chad, has scored four times and provided three assists, and is the youngest player with at least seven goals and successful assists in this campaign.

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