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AC Milan will get their 2025-26 Serie A campaign underway on Saturday, as they welcome newly-promoted Cremonese to San Siro.
For Milan it has been a summer of big changes, and many would agree that they were very much needed after the eighth-placed finish and early Champions League exit in 2024-25. Massimiliano Allegri is back, and there has been a lot of movement in the squad too.
Allegri though knows that just his name alone means very little, and the only guarantees come from hard work. In his pre-match press conference he spoke about the important of establishing a ‘cruise ship’ pace, which he hopes will set in round one.
Game date: Saturday, August 23
Kick-off time: 20:45 (CEST)
Venue: San Siro
Referee: Giuseppe Collu (VAR: Doveri)
Team news
As mentioned, there have been many changes for Milan over the summer, with seven signings having already arrived.
Luka Modric, Samuele Ricci and Ardon Jashari joined to rebuild the midfield, Pietro Terracciano is the new deputy goalkeeper, while Pervis Estupinan, Koni De Winter and Zachary Athekame are the defensive reinforcements.
There have been some high-profile exits too, with the likes of Tijjani Reijnders, Malick Thiaw, Theo Hernandez and Noah Okafor all leaving. It really is a new era therefore, with Igli Tare and Allegri at the helm and the hope for brighter days.
The Rossoneri come into this game having won their first competitive game: a 2-0 Coppa Italia round of 32 win over Bari which came in front of over 71,000 supporters at San Siro on Sunday night.
However, the selection news that dominated the headlines going into round one is the absence of Rafael Leao. He sustained a calf issue shortly after scoring the opening goal in that victory a few days ago, and will not be risked.
Samuel Chukwueze had a minor problem in the past few days but he returned to full training on Thursday and should be available. Aside from that, there are no injury or selection headaches for Allegri to consider.
According to the latest reports, Allegri will line Milan up with a three-man defence again which consists of Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic in front of the captain and goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Alexis Saelemaekers and Pervis Estupinan should be the right and left wing-backs respectively. The midfield trio will then be Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Samuele Ricci and Youssouf Fofana.
With Leao absent, it feels almost certain that Santiago Gimenez will be drafted in to partner Christian Pulisic up front. The likes of Koni De Winter, Ardon Jashari, Luka Modric, Alex Jimenez and Chukwueze should be on the bench initially.
Predicted Milan XI (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Loftus-Cheek, Ricci, Fofana, Estupiñan; Pulisic, Gimenez.
The opponents
Cremonese are back for another stab at the top flight after securing promotion to Serie A via the play-offs in Serie B last season.
Giovanni Stroppa was the man who started and ended the season as manager, either side of a one-month spell from Eugenio Corini in typical Italian coaching carousel fashion. They have opted to make yet another change on the bench though, with Davide Nicola taking charge after leaving Cagliari.
The objective for the Grigiorossi will of course be to preserve their top-flight status, but it must be said that many bookmakers have them as among the most likely teams to get relegated, just because of how hard it is to come up and stay up.
In terms of transfer business, the main signing is probably experienced centre-back Federico Baschirotto from Lecce, who joined for €3m and will anchor the defence. Jari Vandeputte (€3.3m from Catanzaro) and Antonio Sanabria (€2.5m, from Torino) have also come in.
Giuseppe Pezzella has joined from Empoli for a fee around €2m, while Andrea Fulignati also came from Catanzaro. Marco Silvestri and Napo Nava (released by Milan) arrived on free transfers, while Emil Audero joined on loan from Como and should be their new No.1, and Alessio Zerbin came in from Napoli.
There isn’t too much to write about regarding exits. Andreas Jungdal (ex-Milan) went to Westerlo in Belgium for €1m, while Luka Lochoshvili headed to Nurnberg for the same figure. Mouhamadou Sarr is the only other sale for money.
It appears that Nicola will line them up in a 4-4-2 system, with Sanabria and De Luca as the attacking duo, plus new signings Audero, Baschirotto, Pezzella, Zerbin and Vandeputte should all start.
Interestingly, the Cremonese XI should feature two Milan-owned players in Filippo Terracciano and Warren Bondo, both of whom went there on initial loan deals.
Predicted Cremonese XI (4-4-2): Audero; Terracciano, Baschirotto, Bianchetti, Pezzella; Zerbin, Bondo, Grassi, Vandeputte; Sanabria, De Luca.
Head to head
This will be the 30th meeting in history between Milan and Cremonese across all competitions. In the previous 29 the Rossoneri have the upper hand with 17 wins, six draws and six defeats, plus 46 goals scored and 28 against.
The first ever contest between the sides came in the league back in October 1922 and Milan ran out 2-1 winners. They would go on to complete a double, winning 1-0 away from home.
The most recent fixtures were in the 2022-23 season, and they both ended in draws, starting with a 0-0 in November 2022 at the Stadio Giovanni Zini.
Later that season back at San Siro, David Okereke’s late goal looked like it had given La Crema a famous three points, but then Junior Messias partially rescued the Diavolo with a 93rd-minute free-kick.
Prior to that, the last time that AC Milan and Cremonese played was in the 1995-96 season, when the Rossoneri ran riot at home with a 7-1 victory, but were held to a 0-0 draw away.
Ones to watch
The biggest performance to take note of will be that of Santiago Gimenez’s. This summer, talk of a striker has ruled supreme and the Mexican has slipped in the pecking order, despite being the only option at the club. A big start to the season is a must; facing Cremonese is only a positive, too.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s game will also be one to watch, the Englishman has been a key figure in pre-season. However, Massimiliano Allegri has also been given the players to transform the area. After a year of difficulty, the midfielder can now push on and this could just be the start.
From a wider perspective, the back three must also be watched. Last season, there was no stability at the back and Allegri can bring that. So, this must be the start of something in that regard, a win with a good defensive performance would be massive.
For the opposition, the performances of Filippo Terracciano and Warren Bondo will be scrutisined. Both arrived with promise, but neither’s careers took off. With both on loan, they can hope to progress and potentially return to the Diavolo in the future.
Prediction
Starting at San Siro, Milan must kick off their season strongly. There cannot be any hangover of the previous season, if not beyond that. So, a win is a complete must. Of course, there are also factors in the game too.
A strong attacking performance would be nice, whilst some solid defensive work would settle some nerves from last season. Considering the oppponent too, there can be few questions or worries after the first game.
Milan 3-0 Cremonese
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