WOMEN, AC MILAN v ROMA: MATCH PREVIEW

Back to it. After a long summer with World Cup football and pre-season tournaments around Europe, the Rossonere are ready for a new season of competitive football. And what a way to kick off the campaign: AC Milan host reigning champions Roma at the PUMA House of Football. The team will want to get off to a flier and build early momentum to take into their fights on all fronts. Here is our usual Match Preview for AC Milan v Roma.

LATEST FROM THE PUMA HOUSE OF FOOTBALL
AC Milan's Serie A season starts with a game against Roma for the second time. The first was in 2019/20 when the Rossonere won 3-0 away from home. The team goes into matchday 1 following a strong pre-season performance, having performed well at tournaments in Madrid and Toulouse, reaching the final in both while playing against strong opposition. A lot of new faces will be available to take on the champions, who we last managed to beat - in the league - on 15 November 2020.

Here is the squad list for AC Milan v Roma: Copetti, Giuliani, van Eijk; Árnadóttir, Fusetti, Guagni, Swaby, Thrige; Adami, Cernoia, Grimshaw, Mascarello, Soffia; Arrigoni, Asllani, Bergamaschi, Dompig, Jonušaitė, Laurent, Marinelli, Stašková.

"We had a great pre-season. We worked really hard and got a lot of good signs from the tournaments in Spain and France," Maurizio Ganz said on the eve of the game. "I'm really happy with the summer transfer window. We now need to get down to it in a really tactical league, trying to take to the pitch what we've worked on. I'm happy to coach a group with a lot of players in contention to start. We'll try to take all three points; I'm happy to be kicking off with such a big game."

LATEST FROM ROMA
A winning team that has changed, a little anyway. This is the case for Roma, who go into their first matchday as titleholders with a few noteworthy alterations. While new players have come in, such as Japan international Kumagai from Bayern and Spaniard Latorre from Atlético Madrid, important members of the Scudetto-winning squad have departed the club, such as Andressa Alves and Haug. Though Italy internationals Giacinti, Giugliano, Glionna, Greggi, Linari, and captain Bartoli have all stayed. The Giallorosse face an intense start to the season given their involvement in Champions League qualifying against Ukraine's Vorskla Poltava in October.

"The team are coming into this match well, our season is finally starting and we want to get going again," said Giallorossi coach Alessandro Spugna. "We're starting with a great responsibility because we won the championship, but we absolutely want to bear it and the girls are feeling good. AC Milan have improved their team, we're starting against an opponent that is going to fight for the top positions; it will be a tough challenge, we will need awareness and skill".

PRE-MATCH
AC Milan and Roma both have good records on opening day in Serie A. The Rossonere have won four of their five matchday 1 fixtures, while the Giallorosse have won on opening day in each of their last two seasons, having kept a clean sheet in both of those games. Ganz and Spugna's sides scored the most goals from crosses (13 apiece) in 2022/23, and rarely conceded from them (Roma 3, AC Milan 5). Bergamaschi and Co are unbeaten in their last five league games (two wins and three defeats), their longest run without defeat since January to May 2022. The Rossonere are ahead in the head-to-head record in Serie A with five wins to three (four draws) but Roma are unbeaten in the last seven meetings between the two sides.

WHERE TO WATCH
In Italy, AC Milan v Roma will be broadcast live on Sunday 17 September on Rai Sport and Rai Play. Don't miss our coverage on acmilan.com, the Rossonere's socials and the AC Milan Official App with full info on demand.

LATEST FROM WOMEN'S SERIE A
Domenico Castellone will referee AC Milan v Roma, assisted by linesmen Scardovi and Mambelli. Zammarchi will be the match's Fourth Official.

The fixtures for matchday 1 of the new Serie A season: the league kicks off on Saturday with Pomigliano v Juventus at 15:00 CEST and Fiorentina v Sassuolo at 18:00 CEST. The remaining three matches will be played on Sunday: Como Women v Napoli at 12:30 CEST, AC Milan v Roma at 15:00 CEST and Sassuolo v Inter at 18:00 CEST.

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