Opposition insight for Fiorentina-Milan: Form, injuries, predicted eleven and more

AC Milan will be up against Fiorentina tomorrow, following what was an unfortunate international break, and they are big favourites given La Viola’s start to the season.

The Rossoneri are still frustrated with the draw against Juventus last time out, so tomorrow’s game is a chance to bounce back. For Fiorentina, meanwhile, it’s a chance to ‘start’ their season after failing to clinch a single win so far.

Fiorentina in 2025-26: Quick facts

• Manager: Stefano Pioli
• Form (all comps): L-L-D-W-L
• Top scorer (Serie A): Rolando Mandragora – 2
• Most assists (Serie A): Hans Nicolussi Caviglia – 1
• Injuries & suspensions: Kouame and Lamptey.

After Raffaele Palladino resigned at the end of the 2024-25 season, despite Fiorentina wanting to keep him, Stefano Pioli was announced as the new head coach in the summer. For La Viola, given the manager’s experience at the club and in Serie A, it was viewed as a very positive arrival.

Furthermore, while the experienced Cristiano Biraghi left the club to join Torino, the likes of Jacopo Fazzini, Roberto Piccoli, Simon Sohm and the experienced Edin Dzeko were brought in for a combined €50m to reinforce an already solid team. In short, it looked like it could be a very good reunion for Pioli and Fiorentina.

So far, however, it has been a big struggle for Pioli with zero wins in the first six league games. Only three points have been collected and they are thus in the relegation zone, desperately in need of a win to turn things around.

While the results are obviously very poor, the performances haven’t always been terrible. Indeed, with some more composure, the points tally could have been better for Fiorentina. Against Torino, for example, Moise Kean basically cleared a teammate’s header off the line (i.e. very unlucky).

As Fatih Terim also suggested in his interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, it feels more like a matter of time before Fiorentina will get going under Pioli. It would certainly be typical for him to bag the first win of the season at San Siro, in front of the Milan fans.

Team news-wise, the aforementioned Kean was in doubt for the game due to an injury sustained while on international duty with Italy. He has been called up by Pioli, which is a big boost for La Viola, but he won’t play from the first minute.

Instead, the new signings Fazzini and Piccoli will form the attack in the 3-5-2 formation. Pioli will also rely on two strong wing-backs in Robin Gosens and Dodo, who both have caused issues for Milan in the past.

Interestingly, Pietro Comuzzo – who was linked with Milan in the summer – might not get the chance from start. In any case, it’s a starting eleven that certainly is capable of giving Allegri and his men a run for their money, especially considering the Rossoneri’s absence.

Predicted Fiorentina (3-5-2): De Gea; Pongracic; Mari, Ranieri; Dodo, Mandragora; Nicolussi Caviglia, Fagiolo, Gosens; Fazzini, Piccoli.

Predicted bench: Martinelli, Lezzerini, Kuoadio, Viti, Comuzzo, Parisi, Fortini, Sohm, Richardson, Ndour, Dzeko, Gudmundsson, Sabiri, Kean.

Pioli said during his pre-match conference that he expects a tough clash, but that Milan have conceded more to their opponents than what the numbers suggest. In other words, he believes there are ways to hurt the Rossoneri.