Serie A: Milan and Roma are Ready to Rumble

AC Milan vs AS Roma 

Third faces eighth at the San Siro stadium on Sunday when Stefano Pioli’s AC Milan welcome Jose Mourinho’s Roma for the Serie A match of the weekend.

Milan are hoping to close the gap on the top two, but there’s a way to go since Inter are in the lead and nine points clear of their city rivals, while Juventus are just two points off the pace.

I Rossoneri have a six-point cushion over fourth-placed Fiorentina, but then there’s a mad dash for the European places. Only six points separate La Viola from Torino in 10th, and Roma are in the middle of that scramble.  

Both teams suffered Coppa Italia defeats in midweek, with Milan losing 2-1 to Atalanta and Roma falling 1-0 to Lazio. So, back to the serious business of bagging Serie A 2024 results, both will be hoping for an immediate bounceback.    

Talking Points

Coppa chaos is poor preparation

Milan and Roma were fuming after their Coppa Italia fourth round exits. Both matches were full of controversy, and Pioli and Mourinho will hope to channel their players’ frustration into positive action.

La Dea enjoyed two slices of luck when they took a 2-1 win away from Milan. The winner came from a penalty after Aleksei Miranchuk fell under a challenge from Alex Jimenez, and the referee awarded a penalty. It looked terribly harsh, but Teun Koopmeiners made no mistake from the spot.

Pioli was unhappy saying the Atalanta player “threw himself to the ground”, and he was even more annoyed when the referee ignored appeals for a penalty at the other end for a fairly convincing handball.

But if that game was spicy, it was outdone by the rumble in Rome as the Derby della Capitale exploded in the closing minutes with three players sent off as well as Mourinho.

The only goal of the game came early in the second half when VAR awarded Lazio a penalty, and Mattia Zaccagni converted.

Ex-Roma winger Pedro was the first player to be sent off, picking up a second yellow card and Roma’s Sardar Azmoun followed him for a foul on Nicolo Rovella, and then Rovella’s teammate Gianluca Mancini followed him down the tunnel soon after. 

The Roma boss was incensed and he received his marching orders for the second time in a week after he was sent off during Roma’s meeting with Atalanta, and that means he has been dismissed six times in the last two seasons.

Giroud vs Lukaku

While Pioli and Mourinho will do battle on the touchline (from the stands in Mourinho’s case), two seasoned strikers will do come face-to-face on the pitch, as top scorers Olivier Giroud and Romelu Lukaku convene.

They met frequently in the Premier League with the Frenchman starring for Arsenal and Chelsea, while his Belgian rival had a fruitful spell at Everton after making his name at Chelsea.

France’s top scorer of all time, Giroud arrived in Milan in 2021 and helped the Rossoneri to win the 2022 Scudetto. And this season, with nine goals and five assists, the 37-year-old is Milan’s main man, brilliantly supported by former Chelsea teammate Christian Pulisic, who has six goals and four assists.  

Lukaku won the Scudetto in 2021 with Inter Milan and he was also awarded the prize of “Most Valuable Player in Serie A” in the same year.

A prolific scorer, the Belgian ace had a disappointing season back at Chelsea in 2022, and he was quick to return to Italy when Mourinho came calling at the beginning of this season.

With eight goals, he is back on form and top scoring for the Giallorossi, and Lukaku has struck up a strong relationship with Argentine Paulo Dybala, who has five goals and five assists.

Behind the front men, Roma Skipper Lorenzo Pellegrini has struggled for form this season, and if he too can find his feet, then Roma are a good bet for a Champions League tilt.

History

With 26 wins to 19 in the head-to-heads, Milan have the upper hand in this relationship, and the hosts are stronger in terms of recent form too.   

I Rossoneri have won four, drawn one, and lost one of the last six, while Roma have won two, drawn one, and lost three.

With a home record of seven wins and two defeats this season, Milan will be on the front foot from the kick-off.   

Betting Tip

The latest Serie A 2024 betting odds are against them, but Milan will be keen to stop the battle for the Scudetto from becoming a two-horse race between Inter and Juve, and so this is a game they really need to win.

I Giallorossi can stake their claim for a top four place with a win at SBOTOP odds of 3.19, while the draw is available at 2.99. 

I’m backing the Rossoneri to take all three points, but Mourinho and his team will ensure it will be one heck of a battle.

 

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