Juventus vs. Milan Preview 

Juventus return to action after the international break on Saturday, when AC Milan welcome them to the San Siro.
San Siro
San Siro / Jonathan Moscrop/GettyImages
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Sixth-placed Juventus will be looking to climb the table, whilst extending the gap between them and their seventh-placed opponents to nine points.

Match Details

  • Date: Saturday, 23 November, 2024
  • Location: Milan, Italy
  • Venue: San Siro
  • Kick-off time: 17:00 BST, 18:00 UTC
  • Tickets: Available through Milan club website or via trusted resellers online.

Recent Form

After twelve games, Juventus remain undefeated in Serie A, with six wins and six draws to their name. 

Juventus may lie in sixth at the moment, but that is somewhat deceptive. With two points separating the top six, it looks like we are in for an enthralling title race.

Before the international break, Juventus got the better of city rivals their Torino 2-0, thanks to goals from Khephren Thuram and Kenan Yildiz, extending their record run in the Derby della Mole to nineteen games without defeat.

Milan, on the other hand, have struggled defensively all season. Their last game before the break saw them concede right at the start and then at the very end of a chaotic 3-3 draw away to Cagliari.

Even if Milan were to triumph on Saturday, their points total after 12 matches would be lower than in each of the last four years, with the Rossoneri in danger of losing touch with the pack.

The two sides face each other in the league at a time when both teams are outside Serie A’s top five at the start of the matchday for the first time since November 2015.

Head to Head

Since they first met in 1901, Juve and Milan have met in a total of 305 games, including friendlies. Juventus lead the head-to-head stat with 114 wins to Milan’s 101, and 90 draws.

Juventus have won the last five Serie A matches versus Milan after the international break, most recently winning 1-0 at the San Siro last October.

Juventus are the team that has won the most Serie A away matches against Milan at the San Siro from 2010 onward. Juve have won eight times, with two draws and five losses.

The sides last met in April where it was a 0-0 draw in Turin.

Team News

Dusan Vlahovic will miss the game after picking up an injury in his left thigh. Back-up striker Arkadiusz Milik is still on the long term injury list.  

Defenders Juan Cabal and Gleison Bremer have been ruled out for the rest of the season. In the same game as Bremer’s injury, Nico Gonzalez limped off. He has not been seen since that game in October, with no timescale for his return. Douglas Luiz is also a doubt in midfield. 

For Milan, former Juventus striker Alvaro Morata is fit again, after representing Spain in their recent UEFA Nations League matches. Morata will probably start at the expense of his 16-year-old understudy Francesco Camarda, who started against Cagliari and scored twice for Italy Under-19s during the international break.

Tammy Abraham is once again available, while Luka Jovic has struggled with a groin issue recently. Alessandro Florenzi and Ismael Bennacer are also out with injuries.

Players To Watch

Juventus - Kenan Yildiz 

Montenegro v Turkiye - UEFA Nations League
Kenan Yildiz for Türkiye v Montenegro - UEFA Nations League / Anadolu/GettyImages

With Vlahovic sidelined with an injury, Yildiz could see himself deployed as a false nine against the Rossoneri on Saturday. 

The NextGen graduate has the third-most minutes of any Juventus player this season, after shining at the Euros with Turkey, having made 27 league appearances last season under Massimiliano Allegri. 

After bagging assists in each of his first two games this season, and scoring a stupendous goal against PSV, Yildiz has stagnated a bit. Italian media has seen multiple former pros calling him out on his predictability, and questioned whether he was ready to be Juventus Number 10.

One former pro who has backed Yildiz is Alessandro Del Piero, who sent him a towel to congratulate him on his first Juventus goal last year and has stayed in touch ever since. 

On international duty, Yildiz found himself on the scoresheet in Turkey’s shock 3-1 Nations League loss to Montenegro. Should Yildiz score on Saturday, he would reach six Serie A goals for Juventus at the age of 19 years and 203 days, pipping his new mentor Del Piero and becoming the seventh-youngest player to do so.

Yildiz replicated Del Piero’s tongue-out goal celebration when he scored a brace at the San Siro in the manic 4-4 draw with Inter two weeks ago, after an interviewer pointed out that it was where Del Piero first made the celebration.

Will the tongue make another appearance back at the San Siro on Saturday?

Milan - Rafael Leão

Rafael Leao
Rafael Leao for Portugal v Poland - UEFA Nations League 2024/25 League A Group A1 / Diogo Cardoso/GettyImages

Leão has battled himself back into contention recently with two impressive displays against Real Madrid and Cagliari, after spending several months out of favour with manager Paulo Fonseca.

Leão tore apart Real Madrid in the Champions League before scoring a brace against Cagliari. Then, during the international break, the winger got on the scoresheet for Portugal in their 5-1 thrashing of Poland.

He has also completed the most dribbles in Serie A throughout 2024, and needs just one more goal to reach double figures for a third consecutive calendar year.

It is at home, though, where Leão has struggled for form. Leao’s last goal for Milan at the San Siro came in May, in a 3-3 draw against Salernitana at the end of last season. 

He has failed to score in Milan’s five home Serie A games so far this season, having been a second-half substitute in their last fixture at the San Siro against Napoli and never came off the bench in the previous match against Udinese.

Expected Line-Ups

Juventus possible starting line-up:


Di Gregorio; Savona, Kalulu, Gatti, Cambiaso; Locatelli, Thuram; Conceicão Koopmeiners, Yildiz; Weah


AC Milan  possible starting line-up:


Maignan; Emerson, Thiaw, Tomori, Hernandez; Fofana, Reijnders; Chukwueze, Pulisic, Leão; Morata

Prediction

This is not a fixture which has produced a lot of goals in recent years, with six goals in the last six competitive meetings between the two. 

In the last seven league matches between the two teams, only once have both sides found the back of the net, a 1-1 draw back in September 2021.

Milan haven’t won this fixture since the 2022-23 season when Oliver Giroud scored in a 1-0 win for Milan.

Milan’s defence frailty has shown this season, and Juventus will be eager to take advantage of that.

Without Dusan Vlahovic, Kenan Yildiz will be expected to put in a winning performance.

Similarly for Milan, Rafael Leão will look to finally end his San Siro goal drought and continue his recent good form against a stern Juventus backline.

I think in the end, Juventus will have slightly too much for Milan and keep themselves in the pack at the top of the table.

Old Juve predicts a 2-0 Juventus win.