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Both of these two giants of Italian football have new managers getting to grips with their squads at this stage and both of these sides will meet at the Stadio Olimpico in the capital city on the back of suffering defeats in their second match.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Saturday 31st August, 2024 - UK – 7:45pm / US ET – 2:45pm / US PT – 11:45am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – TNT Sports/ US – Select matches will be televised on CBS Sports so it is worth checking their schedule
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – discovery+ or OneFootball / US – Paramount+
LAZIO PREVIEW: BARONI’S START
At the back end of last season, former Olympique de Marseille coach Igor Tudor came in to replace Maurizio Sarri and appeared to perform quite well but the combustible Croatian departed in the summer to be replaced by Hellas Verona’s miracle worker from last season, Marco Baroni.
Baroni began his campaign in the capital city in relatively impressive style as Lazio managed to come from behind at Stadio Olimpico to dispatch of newly-promoted Venezia by three goals to one. However, in his second game against a new and improved Udinese side up in Friuli, Lazio suffered a 2-1 loss last weekend.
AC MILAN PREVIEW: PRESSURE ON PAULO
Unlike the inconsistency of Baroni’s Lazio, former Lille boss Paulo Fonseca has had an outright poor start to life at San Siro and he has already launched into a tirade of criticism against his players for not following his instructions. Absolving yourself of blame after just two matches of your tenure never seems to be a good plan.
On the opening day of the season, the Rossoneri welcomed Torino to the Giuseppe Meazza and found themselves two goals down with just a minute of the 90 to go before goals from Alvaro Morata and Noah Okafor salvaged a point. Then, though, they travelled to newly-promoted Parma and suffered a surprise 2-1 loss at the Ennio Tardini.
LAZIO TEAM NEWS: UNCHANGED LAZIO
Lazio are still expected to be unchanged for this weekend as they welcome AC Milan to the capital city as they have no fresh injury concerns or suspension issues.
Defender Mario Gila remains sidelined with a thigh issue for Lazio but they will have to stick with what they are trying to do to allow Marco Baroni’s style of football to bed in at the Olimpico.
PREDICTED XI (4-3-3): Provedel; Lazzari, Casale, Romagnoli, Marusic; Guendouzi, Matias Vecino, Dele-Bashiru; Noslin, Valentin Castellanos, Zaccagni
UNAVAILABLE: Mario Gila (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
AC MILAN TEAM NEWS: ALVARO MORATA STILL OUT
Despite scoring on debut, AC Milan remain without Spain captain Alvaro Morata, who led La Roja to winning UEFA EURO 2024 this year, after he suffered a muscle injury.
The Rossoneri are also without back-up goalkeeper Marco Sportiello as they are trying to find and identify a winning formula and midfield balance to suit Paulo Fonseca’s style of football.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Tomori, Pavlovic, Hernandez; Musah, Reijnders; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Okafor
UNAVAILABLE: Sportiello (Injured), Alvaro Morata (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
LAZIO VS AC MILAN PREDICTION
Both Lazio and AC Milan will be aiming to play progressive styles of football this season. The complexity of both Sarri and Tudor perhaps made Lazio quite ineffective in attack last year, whilst Paulo Fonseca is far more attacking and proactive than Baroni in his style of football. As a result, this one is expected to be quite an open and entertaining affair in which both teams scoring seems a good bet – as has been the case in both sides’ opening matches.
LAZIO VS AC MILAN TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE