UCL preview: AC Milan vs. Girona – Team news, opposition insight, stats and prediction | OneFootball

AC Milan return to Champions League action at San Siro on Wednesday night as they welcome LaLiga side Girona for the seventh game of the first phase.

Milan need to bounce back after a 2-0 defeat to Juventus on Saturday handed Sergio Conceicao his first league defeat, but they are on a good run in Europe having won four on the spin to surge up the table.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Conceicao chose to send out a plea to the fans to support the team in a moment of difficulty, rather than deepen the divide that he senses already exists within the club.

Game date: Wednesday, January 22 Kick-off time: 21:00 (CET) Venue: San Siro Referee: Tobias Stieler (VAR: Storks)

Team news

As mentioned, Milan have won their last four Champions League games against Club Brugge, Real Madrid, Red Star and Slovan Bratislava, which leaves them in a good position to make the knockout stages.

At the same time, La Gazzetta dello Sport branded the Girona game as ‘victory or hell’ and for good reasons. The Diavolo were outplayed and outfought by Juventus on Saturday in a 2-0 defeat which puts the chances of even playing in the UCL next season in grave danger.

For now the focus is on rebounding in Europe and trying to create an easier February schedule, given that getting into the top eight will cut out the need for a two-legged play-off and would bring direct last 16 qualification.

More Stories / The Match

UCL preview: AC Milan vs. Girona – Team news, opposition insight, stats and prediction

21 January 2025, 19:00

Sky: Emerson and Pavlovic expected to start vs. Girona despite Turkish links

21 January 2025, 18:00

SempreMilan Podcast: Episode 345 – Juve Got To Be Kidding Me

21 January 2025, 17:51

In terms of selection issues, Conceicao once again has quite a lot to deal with. Christian Pulisic trained alone on Tuesday and at best will make the bench but will not be risked, while question marks remain over Noah Okafor after his failed RB Leipzig move.

Malick Thiaw, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Samuel Chukwueze will all be missing, depleting each outfield department, with Alessandro Florenzi continuing to recover from a long-term problem that required surgery.

Finally, Alvaro Morata is back from suspension but Fikayo Tomori must now serve one after reaching the yellow card threshold in the Champions League, meaning the choices in the centre-back role are almost obligatory.

Mike Maignan is one of the certainties at the back, he is one of only three. Emerson Royal is expected to start at right-back, despite expectations about Davide Calabria earlier on Tuesday. Strahinja Pavlovic is also expected to return to the defence, and he partners Matteo Gabbia as expected, then at left-back is Theo Hernandez.

In midfield, Conceicao will stick with the same midfield trio. Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders are guaranteed at this point, and they will be joined by Ismael Bennacer, with the Algerian partnering Fofana in the pivot.

Musah is expected on the right again, albeit with options limited, whereas Leao’s position on the left is another guarantee. Morata will return after serving his suspension at the weekend.

Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Emerson, Gabbia, Pavlovic, Theo; Fofana, Bennacer; Musah, Reijnders, Leao; Morata.

Images: AC Milan

The opponents

Girona were in many ways the fairytale story of the 2023-24 LaLiga season as they put up a real fight for the title for most of the season, sitting in top spot for four different spells before eventually finishing third.

For a club of their size and therefore limited resources it was still a brilliant achievement to get into Europe’s top club competition, with the campaign masterminded by promising coach Michel.

The Catalan side were not exactly raided during the summer but they did sell Artem Dovbyk to Roma for €30.5m and Aleix Garcia to Bayer Leverkusen for €18m. They managed to keep hold of Michel too, which helped.

The proceeds were mostly reinvested on Watford’s Yaser Asprilla and Sparta Praha’s Ladislav Krejci who arrived for a combined €30m, with Abel Ruiz joining from Braga for €8.5m as the new starting striker.

It was always going to be hard to keep the pace from last season but Girona currently sit eighth in the league, with eight wins and eight defeats from 20 games. They have won two of their last three, which has helped take them out of the bottom half.

In the Champions League it has been a tough lesson, with five defeats and one win so far. A spirited 1-0 defeat away at PSG was followed by a 3-2 home loss to Feyenoord, then a 2-0 home win over Slovan Bratislava.

That didn’t inspire any resurgence though, with a 4-0 loss at PSV Eindhoven, a 1-0 defeat at Sturm Graz and another 1-0 loss to Liverpool the most recent results. They close with games against Milan and Arsenal, which their coach framed as being almost free hits given the minimal chance of qualifying.

Michel is expected to name a relatively unchanged XI at San Siro despite the loss at the weekend. Gazzaniga will start between the sticks, and in front of him will be an unchanged back four consisting of Martinez, Lopez, Krejci and Blind.

Romeu and Martin are expected to start ahead of them, however, the former could be replaced by Solis, it is a decision which will go to the wire.

Ahead of them, Michel is debating between van de Beek and Asprilla, the Dutchman was not selected from the start against Liverpool in the Champions League last time out, so he could be facing a similar fate in Italy.

The front line should be as straightforward as it gets, Tsygankov and Gil are expected on either side of Ruiz.

Predicted Girona XI (4-2-3-1): Gazzaniga; Martinez, Lopez, Krejci, Blind; Romeu, Martin; Tsygankov, Asprilla, Gil; Ruiz.

Head to head

AC Milan and Girona have never faced each other in a competitive game, which is perhaps not too surprising. It will be the LaLiga side’s first ever game against an Italian team in Europe, however.

Milan have played 36 times in the European Cup/Champions League against teams from Spain, with Barcelona 915 meetings) the most frequent opponents.

Of those games, the Rossoneri have only emerged victorious 11 times, with 10 draws and 15 defeats completing what is a lop-sided record and not in Milan’s favour.

The most recent such game though came this season and went the way of the Diavolo, with Thiaw, Morata and Reijnders scoring in a 3-1 win at the Bernabeu against Real Madrid.

Key facts and stats

➤ Milan have faced 11 different Spanish opponents in European competition to date, but this will be their first such meeting with Girona. Meanwhile, the Spanish side have never previously faced an Italian team.

➤ Milan have won their last two matches against Spanish teams, with the most recent of those coming away to Real Madrid on MD4 this season (3-1). They’ve never previously won three in a row against such opposition in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League.

➤ Milan have won their last four UEFA Champions League matches – in the two previous campaigns they’ve strung together runs of 5+ wins in a row, they have reached the final (six in a row in 1992-93, five in 2004-05), although they did end as runners-up both times.

➤ Girona have lost their first three away UEFA Champions League games without scoring a single goal. In the competition’s history, the only side to lose their first four without scoring is SK Rapid Wien between 1996 and 2005.

➤ Girona have lost five of their six UEFA Champions League games this season (W1). The only Spanish team to lose six in one season is Villarreal in 2011-12.

➤ This will be Sérgio Conceição’s first UEFA Champions League game in charge of Milan. The Portuguese has won eight of his last 10 matches in the group/league phase of the competition (L2), although none of the last three Milan bosses have won their opening UCL game with the club (Massimiliano Allegri the last to do so – 2-0 v Auxerre in 2010-11).

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

➤ Girona are the only side in this season’s UEFA Champions League yet to attempt a shot from a fast break, while their direct speed of 1.39 metres per second is the second-lowest of any side, ahead only of Shakhtar Donetsk (1.33 m/s).

➤ Only Lille’s Edon Zhegrova (39) has made more dribbles in the UEFA Champions League this season than Milan’s Rafael Leão (38). His current per 90 minutes tally of 7.6 in 2024-25 is the second-most by a Milan player on record since 2003-04, behind only Leão himself in 2021-22 (8 per 90).

➤ Tammy Abraham has scored in each of his last two UEFA Champions League appearances for Milan – the only Englishman to score in three in a row for a non-English club is Jude Bellingham for Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid (two runs of four).

➤ Despite only starting two games, Arnaut Danjuma has had more shots than any other Girona player in this season’s UEFA Champions League (11), however the Dutchman remains without a goal. He scored seven goals in his first 11 games in the competition but has since had eight goalless matches.

Ones to watch

Viktor Tsygankov is just returning from an injury, but he showed his quality at the weekend assisting Girona’s only goal against Sevilla. He can be a huge threat and Theo Hernandez must balance attack and defence against the Ukranian winger.

Oriol Romeu is also a player to keep note of if he starts on Wednesday evening. The Spaniard has seen his career resuscitated in Spain and he can control the game if he is given respect. With the midfield being an area of problems recently, it is a battle that could be straightforward for Romeu.

Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images

Yunus Musah needs to show more in this game it must be said. The American was not great at the weekend, and questions about his future are rife. For this reason, a good performance is needed, if it does not arrive, there will only be more questions about his future.

Alvaro Morata should also flourish in this game. In his last three games against the side, he has scored four times and assisted once so he is more than capable against the Spanish outfit. Considering the links to Santiago Gimenez too, he must prove his capabilities.

Prediction

It cannot be put any other way. Milan are desperate for a win here. Not only would it have a significant impact on things moving forward in the Champions League, but it would also calm things a little, which is massively needed.

Girona have only scored four goals in the competition, but the change in defence certainly leaves the Rossoneri vulnerable to chances. Going forward though, there has to be conviction.

AC Milan 3-1 Girona