The game at the Stadio Olimpico is presented by Socios!

MILAN

League position: 2nd
Head coach: Stefano Pioli
Serie A top-scorer: Olivier Giroud (4)

RECENT FORM

Roma: W L L D W
Milan: W W L W W

Jose Mourinho has steadied the ship following the chastening defeat to Bodo/Glimt in Europe, by becoming the first team to take a point from Napoli and bagging a fine win at Cagliari in midweek.

That keeps Roma in fourth place going into Matchday 11 - and they could cut the gap to as little as six points to Napoli and Milan in first and second if they beat the latter on Sunday night.

Milan’s European issues dwarf Roma’s with their three defeats this season all coming in the Champions League.

Their Serie A form has been superb, however, with nine wins and a draw to show from an unbeaten 10 matches so far.

Possible Milan line-up

(4-3-2-1)

Tatarusanu; Calabria, Tomori, Kjaer, Hernandez; Tonali, Kessie; Saelemaekers, Brahim Diaz, Leao; Giroud

LAST MEETING

DANGER MAN
Rafael Leao

Lining up on the left side of Milan’s attack will be their top-scorer in all competitions this term, Leao.

The 22-year-old has five goals in 13 appearances in 2021-22, with four of those coming in the league and he forms a dynamic partnership with Brahim Diaz and Alexis Saelemaekers behind either Olivier Giroud or Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The three attacking midfielders bring an attacking verve that’s complemented by those two experienced frontmen and it’s Leao that has been most threatening out of the lot so far.

Roma will certainly need to pay close attention to the Portugal international.

MATCH STATS

Roma may have lost their last home league game against Milan in Serie A, but they have not lost back-to-back Serie A matches to the Rossoneri at the Stadio Olimpico since 2015.

The Giallorossi have finished in the top three on each of the last nine occasions that they have won six of their first 10 top-flight outings.

No side has conceded fewer set piece goals than Roma in Serie A this season; one, level with Napoli.

Milan and Napoli have won nine of their 10 matches in Serie A this season, with only four sides ever having won 10 of out their first 11 in the history of the competition: Juventus in 2005-06, Roma in 2013-14, Napoli in 2017-18 and Juventus in 2018-19.

PLAYER STATS

• After losing his first Serie A meeting with Milan in 2008, Mourinho has won each of his last three top-flight matches against the Rossoneri, with eight goals scored and only one conceded.
  
• Bryan Cristante started his career at Milan and made his Serie A debut for the club, while Stephan El Shaarawy spent four seasons in red and black.
  
• Ibrahimovic is one goal away from scoring his 400th in domestic league football.
  
• Ibrahimovic has scored 10 of those goals against Roma and each of his last eight goals against the Giallorossi have been in games he has scored a brace.

WHAT THEY SAID

"Roma have a good team with many attacking options. It will be another challenging and difficult match, especially after playing so many matches recently. We can still play better than we are doing."

- Milan coach, Stefano Pioli