AC Milan vs Hellas Verona

San Siro forms the backdrop for a redemption-poised Serie A encounter between AC Milan and Hellas Verona.

After a demoralizing 5-1 thumping at the hands of Inter Milan in last weekend’s Derby della Madonnina, AC Milan spurned a catalog of opportunities en route to drawing 0-0 against Newcastle United in midweek Champions League action. Despite opening the new Serie A campaign with three consecutive victories before Inter knocked them down from an eye-catching run, ‘I Rossoneri’ are at risk of falling out with the San Siro faithful. Verona’s visit to Lombardy promises to bring them back within fans’ good grace, with Milan going unbeaten in this fixture on home turf for over a century. More precisely, they’ve not lost any of their last 37 H2Hs at San Siro (W21, D16) despite last keeping a clean sheet in this match-up in 2014.

Having scored on their last seven top-flight visits to Milan, visiting Hellas Verona will be confident of returning to the scoresheet after a dull 0-0 home draw against Bologna earlier this week halted their eight-game scoring run in all competitions. Adding to this sentiment, ‘I Gialloblu’ have struck home on their last seven Serie A travels on the trot since a scoreless draw at Napoli in mid-April. The appointment of ex-Lecce coach Marco Baroni as a new chief of staff has been a resounding success thus far, with Verona going unbeaten in three of their opening four league matches (W2, D1) after securing top-flight survival via playoffs last season. Indeed, a seven-point tally from the opening four Serie A fixtures represents their joint-best start to a new campaign at the elite table since 2014/15.