5 Biggest Fixtures for AC Milan in Serie A 2022-23
After a long hiatus, the AC Milan fans finally got to see their Red Devils gracing the Champions podium while holding the Scudetto honour. It was a historic campaign which marked the new era of the Rossoneri side which topped the Serie A race after 11 years. The reigning champions of the Italian top-flight league will be commencing their title defense campaign on 13th August by facing Udinese at San Siro.
The race for the 2021-22 Serie A season was a nail-biting one as Red Devils edged past the runners-up and arch-rivals Internazionale by a margin of just two points. They were able to keep themselves in the Top 3 throughout the first half of the league and then went on to press the accelerator in the latter half to lead the Scudetto race. Their run in the Coppa Italia competition was cut short after the semi-final defeat at the hands of Inter Milan while the European journey couldn’t even proceed further to the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.
We saw many prolific names such as Siniša Mihajlović, Clarence Seedorf, and Gennaro Gattuso taking the charge of Milan Reds but eventually, it was Stefano Pioli who brought back glory to the legacies. The 56-year-old Rossoneri gaffer has done commendable for the club which was dejected before arrival and transformed them into a formidable side. The forthcoming season will bring new challenges to them as every other competitor would want to breach match points from the title-holders.
#5 AC Milan vs Fiorentina – 13th November
Milan diving into the Pioli-smo
The AC Milan gaffer Stefano Pioli is considered an important figure in the Fiorentina club as he spent most of his playing career wearing the Viola colours. Even before he arrived in Milan, he held the role of Fiorentina manager for two seasons and impressed the Rossoneri board with his stint at the Florence-based club. The Purple Army is on the rise and is capable enough to put up an intense fight against the ruling side.
The first encounter of the previous season was played at Stadio Artemio Franchi where the home team registered a memorable victory over AC Milan in a seven-goal thriller. However, Milan got away with three match-points in the returning fixture after an 82nd-minute winner from Milan’s striking sensation Rafael Leao. The former Milan manager Marco Giampaolo was fired from his job as a consequence of the 1-3 defeat from Fiorentina on home turf in 2019.
#4 AC Milan vs Roma – 8th January
When the two Italian combatants take on each other in the forthcoming season, it will be the battle of not just players but also the respective managers of both sides. The play style and formation approach of both teams are identical to each other hence it is going to be a crushing game of football ahead. The confidence of the Rome-based outfit is very much high for the new season and especially after clinching the first-ever edition of the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Milan got their best against Roma in both fixtures of the previous season and completed a double over the Giallorossi side convincingly. In their previous face-off, Milan registered an emphatic victory over its counterparts with a scoreline of 3-0 on the home turf. In that fixture, Milan’s joint top-scorers Oliver Giroud and Rafael Leao featured on the goal sheet while Tammy Abraham scored the solitary goal for AS Roma.
#3 AC Milan vs Napoli – 18th September
Napoli was among those competitors who made the 2021-22 Scudetto race a tough one for the Milan Reds. The Perthenopeans were leading the Serie A standings during the first half of the league but unfortunately couldn’t keep the momentum in the latter stages and eventually lost the race to the Red Devils. The Rossoneri side is determined to defend their title while the Naples-based club is having preparations to launch a full-fledged attack against the defending champions.
The Milan-based club faced tough times while battling against Napoli in the past decade due to their downfall but things have changed vigorously over the last two seasons. The head-to-head record of the previous Serie A season remained neutral at 1-1 and interestingly, the away team emerged victorious on both occasions. Gli Azzurri will have a psychological advantage when they will be travelling to San Siro to face AC Milan on 18th September as they registered a memorable victory the last time they faced Red Devils at the same venue.
#2 AC Milan vs Juventus – 9th October
It is the battle between the two most successful clubs in the history of the Italian top-flight league as they have won a whopping number of 55 Serie A titles in total. Juventus is the most successful club in the Italian domestic league with 36 Scudetto triumphs while the Rossoneri side holds the honour of being the most successful Italian club in Europe’s most prestigious club competition, the UEFA Champions League. The Bianconeri camp has turned on the reboot mode to venture into a new era where they have to daunt the reigning champions to reclaim their own supremacy.
The downfall of AC Milan was initiated when Juve’s current manager Massimiliano Allegri left the charge in 2014 and it took them so many years to replicate the glory days. The outcomes of both fixtures of the previous season between these two combatants couldn’t produce the results as the match points were shared. The historic rivalry was initiated in the year 1901 and the competitiveness of this battle has always been aloft throughout these years.
#1 AC Milan vs Inter – 3rd September
An iconic Derby della Madonnia moment between Marco Materazzi and Rui Costa
The Milan Derby which is also called the ‘Derby Della Madonnia’ is the biggest rivalry in Italian football. The legacy of this battle between two Milan clubs who shared the same home ground is acknowledged by football fans around the globe. In the previous season, Red Devils went on to conquer Serie A while the country’s premier cup competition Coppa Italia was lifted by the Blue half of Milan.
The Nerazzurri side eliminated their city rivals in the semi-final stages of the 2021-22 domestic cup although couldn’t defend the Scudetto from the same opponent. It was an intense battle for the Serie A title between two combatants who also finished inside the Top 2 in the earlier season and the last laugh went in the favour of Rossoneri. The top-notch footballing action is guaranteed whenever these two clubs take the San Siro field as counterparts and the two fixtures of the forthcoming season are going to add another chapter to this rivalry.