AC MILAN v LAZIO: OPPONENT REVIEW

San Siro, Serie A matchday 27: AC Milan will take on Lazio in a match that could propel the Rossoneri back into the top four, after two defeats away from home against Torino and Bologna. We will face Baroni's Biancocelesti, a side in the fought for a Champions League spot. Lazio currently have 47 points in the league compared to the Rossoneri's 41, who will need to draw on everything they have to finish well in the final 12 league games. The side from the Capital have commanded the Europa League so far, finishing the league phase with 19 points after eight games, level with Athletic Club and ahead of top sides such as Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Olympique Lyonnais and Eintracht Frankfurt. In the competition's Round of 16, they will face Viktoria Plzeň, with the hope of advancing to the latter stages of the competition. 

The European campaign serves as a litmus test for a side who have done very well up until this point, thanks to smart moves in the transfer window, which allowed for the arrival of several players with Serie A experience to Formello. For example, Dia, Noslin, Tchaouna. In addition, they have signed other interesting players such as Nuno Tavares, who has been a revelation so far, and Dele-Bashiru and Gigot. They also made a further three signings in the Winter transfer window, signing Belahyane from Verona, Arijon Ibrahimović from Bayern Munich and the defender Provstgaard. Nuno Tavares, who assisted two goals against us in the reverse 2-2 draw has the most assists in the league with eight so far. The Portuguese international, who arrived to Formello after spending time at Arsenal, possesses strong physical attributes, which are demonstrated by this statistic: only Dodô (129) has completed more dribbles of at least ten metres than Tavares. He has the ability to create and be decisive in attack and defence.

The left-flank tends to be very effective for the Biancocelesti, because they also have Mattia Zaccagni operating down that side, a player who is currently in brilliant form: the Lazio number 10 has had six goal involvements in seven matches during 2025 in Serie A (two goals and four assists - the highest for this period of time). Only Matteo Retegui has had more involvements during this calendar year. Zaccagni has scored nine this season, further adding to the firepower of the Biancocelesti: Castellanos has scored 12 (but he will not feature at San Siro), Pedro, Dia and Zaccagni have scored nine, Dele-Bashiru and Noslin have five while Isaksen has four goals. They are a side with a lot of dangerous attacking talent, who have managed to perform well despite the number of absences during this period. Lazio are the side that have scored the most goals using players off the bench: 14 exactly double AC Milan (seven), who were leading in this particular statistic last season. 

Castellanos' absence will not be easy for Baroni to solve, given that Lazio have not won during this campaign without him, with two draws and two defeats. Without him, their average number of goals drops from 2.0 to 0.5. Lazio are also a strong side in midfield, with their midfield pairing of Mattéo Guendouzi and Nicolò Rovella. The pairing are third and fourth when it comes to the rankings of midfielders who have completed the most passes this season, Guendouzi (1335) and Rovella (1274) sit behind Marten de Roon and Manuel Locatelli. The physicality and bursts of pace of the former combine well with the precision of the latter, who is favoured upon by Spalletti for the Azzurri.

It's worth highlighting the two centre backs for Baroni. The starting duo is usually formed of Mario Gila and Alessio Romagnoli, and their presence is valuable for Lazio with a 59% win rate and average of 1.1 goals conceded per game. Without one of these players, the change in form is evident, with both statistics falling to 44% and 1.7 respectively. Lazio boast a lot of threats, as they are also a side who tend to go the distance and have scored the most goals in the final 30 minutes of play during this campaign: 24, at least six more than any other side. 

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