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AC Milan and Napoli will contest perhaps the most eagerly-awaited game of the early season on Sunday night at San Siro.
Milan come into the fixture off the back of a great recent run of form, however they run into a team with a 100% record so far in the league this season. It is a night that will be full of sub-plots, not least the battle between two elite Italian coaches.
Speaking of which, Massimiliano Allegri gave his pre-match press conference on the eve of the game, and he spoke about some of the selection headaches he has in various positions, as well as the mentality of taking things game by game.
Game date: Sunday, September 28
Kick-off time: 20:45 (CEST)
Venue: San Siro
Referee: Daniele Chiffi (VAR: Marini)
Team news
As mentioned, Milan will arrive at the game in good shape having won five games out of six across all competitions to begin 2025-26, not conceding in any of those victories. The only blemish on the record is the 2-1 defeat to Cremonese in round one, with four defeats following it.
Even though Napoli played on Monday night, there was some worry about Tuesday’s Coppa Italia game against Lecce taking away some of the freshness. However, the early red card and being three goals up after an hour – in addition to some rotation – certainly helped ease those fears.
During that game, captain Mike Maignan made his return from a calf issue that had kept him out of the trip to Udinese. He had a very quiet night but it was good to have the number one goalkeeper back between the posts.
The big news in the build-up to the game against the Partenopei is the return of Rafael Leao. The Portuguese forward trained with the rest of the squad on Thursday and while he will be available, the plan is for him to come off the bench given he is not close to 100% fit yet after five weeks out.
That means that Milan are down to just one injury absentee: Ardon Jashari. The Swiss midfielder has been out since the end of August with a fractured leg, although reports in the past few days have suggested he is about a month from coming back.
According to the reports circulating on the even of the game, Allegri will continue with the same rearguard of Mike Maignan in goal plus a three-man defence of Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic.
Alexis Saelemaekers and Pervis Estupinan are almost certain to be the two wing-backs, either side of a midfield trio of Youssouf Fofana, Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot.
Santiago Gimenez and Christian Pulisic are tipped to lead the line, but there are weapons off the bench to use. Christopher Nkunku is getting nearer to 100% after a goal in midweek, while Samuele Ricci and Ruben Loftus-Cheek will be raring to go.
Predicted Milan XI (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Modric, Rabiot, Estupinan; Gimenez, Pulisic.
The opponents
Napoli won the league in perhaps the most dramatic fashion possible last season. It went down to a final round shootout against Inter, who won at Como, but Antonio Conte’s side took care of business at home against Cagliari to clinch their fourth Scudetto.
Despite the triumph, there was quite a bit of uncertainty regarding their fate, with talk that Conte would leave without backing and perhaps even take his talents to Milan, prior to the arrival of Allegri.
Aurelio De Laurentiis had different ideas though, and backed him in the window. Sam Beukema (€31m, from Bologna), Not Lang (€25m, from PSV) and Miguel Gutierrez (€18m, from Girona) were the main investments, though none of the three are starters at the moment.
Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and Lorenzo Lucca both arrived from Torino and Udinese respectively on loan with obligation to buy deals, to defer the payment. Rasmus Hojlund was the late-window addition, arriving via the same formula.
Then there is perhaps the biggest name signing: Kevin De Bruyne. The Belgian joined from Manchester City on a free with his contract there having expired, adding some quality to a midfield that already had plenty.
Victor Osimhen’s €75m sale to Galatasaray helped to finance a lot of the incomings. Giacomo Raspadori went to Atletico Madrid for €22m, while Natan, Elia Caprile and Gianluca Gaetano were more minor sales.
It has been a case of so far, so good in the title defence for the Neapolitans. They have won four out of four in the league: a 2-0 win at Sassuolo, a 1-0 win over Cagliari, a 3-1 win at Fiorentina and most recently a 3-2 victory over Pisa that they were made to work hard for.
A 2-0 loss to Manchester City in the Champions League – after an early Giovanni Di Lorenzo red card – is the only blot on the record so far. In short, Napoli are looking like a machine to be feared once again.
However, Conte has to deal with a ‘sudden defensive emergency’. In addition to Alessandro Buongiorno – who was injured against Pisa – Napoli will not have Amir Rrahmani, Leonardo Spinazzola and Mathias Olivera. At least three of those probably would have started.
The other absentee for Napoli will be Romelu Lukaku, who will miss at least a couple more months after tearing a muscle in August.
Sky report that Meret will be in goal with Di Lorenzo, Beukema, Juan Jesus and Gutierrez as the back four. Lobotka, Politano, Anguissa, De Bruyne, McTominay and Hojlund complete the side. As a reminder, Lukaku is also out after a muscle tear sustained a few weeks ago.
Predicted Napoli XI (4-1-4-1): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Beukema, Juan Jesus, Gutierrez; Lobotka; Politano, Anguissa, De Bruyne, McTominay; Hojlund.
Head to head
It is not surprising given the status of both clubs that this is one of the most played games in Serie A history. Milan and Napoli have faced each other 177 times across all competitions, with 70 wins for the Rossoneri, 53 for the Partenopei and 54 draws.
Napoli prevailed pretty comfortably in this fixture last season though. Lukaku and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia got the goals for Conte’s men in what was a very professional performance, and it must be said they do better in games against the Diavolo away from Naples.
Prior to last season’s 2-1 defeat at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Milan were on a run of six without defeat there. The streak stretched back to the 2018-19 season, when Gennaro Gattuso’s side bottled a 2-0 lead in the second half.
Key facts and stats
➤ There have been 87 official previous meetings between the two teams in Milan, with a record of 38 Milan victories, 29 draws, and 20 Napoli wins.
➤ The last draw between the two teams in Milan in Serie A dates back to November 23, 2019 (1-1, Lozano for Napoli and Bonaventura for Milan). The subsequent 6 matches have seen 2 Milan victories and 4 away wins.
➤ In the last 10 years in Serie A, Milan-Napoli has been played in September only in the 2022-23 season, when Napoli won at the Rossoneri’s home 2-1: away advantage with Politano’s penalty, Milan’s equaliser through Giroud, and the decisive goal by Giovanni Simeone.
➤ Milan have 9 points after 4 matchdays – the last time this occurred was in the 2023-24 season. On that occasion, the Rossoneri were third behind Inter (leaders with 12 points) and Juventus (second with 10 points). The Rossoneri finished that season second with 75 points, 19 behind champions Inter.
➤ Napoli have 12 points after 4 Serie A matchdays for the first time since the 2021-22 season. Back then, Napoli were also alone at the top, with Inter and Milan as first pursuers on 10 points. At the end of that season, the Partenopei finished third with 79 points behind champion Milan (86) and second-placed Inter (84).
➤ Napoli, including last season, have conceded only one goal (from Fiorentina’s Ranieri) in their last 5 away matches in Serie A.
➤ In their last 14 Serie A away matches, Napoli have lost only one game: Como-Napoli 2-1 on February 23, 2025. The remaining record shows 8 Napoli victories and 5 draws.
➤ Napoli is the Serie A team that has had the most different players score goals – 8: Gilmour, Spinazzola, Lucca, Hojlund, Beukema, De Bruyne, Anguissa, and McTominay.
➤ This marks the tenth official encounter between Massimiliano Allegri and Antonio Conte, with a record of 5 Conte victories, 2 draws, and 2 Allegri wins.
➤ Facing each other are the two coaches in Serie A 2025/26 with the most Scudetti won: 6 titles for Allegri and 5 for Conte (the only coach in history since 1929/30 to triumph in 3 different cities).
Ones to watch
It is hard to single out individuals who might be important for Milan, because in truth every player must play their part. Maignan, Gabbia, Modric and Pulisic feel like a very important spine of the team, and if they all perform to a good level the changes of a good result multiply.
With Napoli’s injury problems it feels like the full-backs can be targeted, so Saelemaekers and Estupinan must pick their moments to get forward and be the spare man in attack. For Rabiot too this feels like the kind of game where he can show his experience.
After being the MVP of last season’s Scudetto win, McTominay has a couple of goal contributions already. De Bruyne’s quality needs no introduction and he has scored twice too, but it is the muscle of Anguissa that could allow those two to shine.
Juan Jesus will have to try and anchor a makeshift defence, and at the other end Hojlund would no doubt like to get one over on the team that he was apparently close to joining in the summer window.
Prediction
This is a really difficult game to call, with all of the sub-plots involved. While the hope is that Milan will keep their momentum going, we must remember that this is a Conte team, and one that has won every league game for a reason. So, we see the teams cancel each other out.
Milan 1-1 Napoli
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