Milan continue their hunt for a first Champions League win of the season when they host Belgian side Club Brugge on Tuesday.
The Italian giants, who are seven-time Champions League and European Cup victors, were handed a difficult opening to their continental campaign. Fixtures against six-time winners Liverpool and Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen both ended in defeat, with new boss Paulo Fonseca already under pressure in Milan after a patchy start to his reign.
Tuesday’s affair does offer Milan a fantastic opportunity to get some points on the board in the newly-expanded Champions League. They currently find themselves 32nd in the 36-team league table and are one of just eight sides without a win thus far.
Club Brugge suffered a heavy defeat to Borussia Dortmund in their opening Champions League fixture but made amends with a hard-fought 1-0 victory away at Austrian champions Sturm Graz last time out. However, their underwhelming start to their domestic campaign – just five wins in their opening 11 Jupiler Pro League fixtures – will have dented their confidence heading to Italy.
Here is 90min’s guide to Milan’s third Champions League encounter of the season.
Location: Milan, Italy
Stadium: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza
Date: Tuesday 22 October
Kick-off Time: 17:45 BST / 12:45 ET / 09:45 PT
Referee: Felix Zwayer (GER)
VAR: Christian Dingert (GER)
Current form (all competitions)
How to watch Milan vs Club Brugge on TV and live stream
Milan team news
Tammy Abraham endured a difficult weekend after lasting just five minutes during Milan‘s 1-0 win over Udinese before being withdrawn with a shoulder injury. The striker will miss out on a clash with Club Brugge, although he was unlikely to displace Alvaro Morata in the starting XI.
Full-backs Alessandro Florenzi and Davide Calabria are both missing with injuries for the Italian side, while Ismael Bennacer is unavailable in the centre of the park.
Tijjani Reijnders was sent off in the victory over Udinese but his suspension will only be served in domestic competition and not the Champions League. Theo Hernandez missed the weekend win as he served a suspension himself but will return to the starting lineup on Tuesday night.
Milan predicted lineup vs Club Brugge
Milan predicted lineup vs Club Brugge (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Royal, Tomori, Pavlovic, Hernandez; Fofana, Reijnders; Chukwueze, Pulisic, Leao; Morata.
Club Brugge team news
Nicky Hayen has a fairly clean bill of health heading to Milan but he will be without Denmark international Andreas Skov Olsen. Left-back Bjorn Meijer and striker Gustaf Nilsson could feature but remain doubts after missing the weekend win over Westerlo.
Skov Olsen and Nilsson have managed 12 goals and assists between them in the Belgian first division so far this season and will prove notable absences. The goalscoring and playmaking burden will fall on experienced attacking midfielder Hans Vanaken, who scored the winning goal at the weekend.
Club Brugge predicted lineup vs Milan
Club Brugge predicted lineup vs Milan (4-1-4-1): Mignolet; Seys, Ordonez, Mechele, De Cuyper; Onyedika; Skoras, Jashari, Vanaken, Tzolis; Talbi.
Milan have proven inconsistent at the beginning of the Fonseca era but there have been some positive results to cling on to, including victory in the Milan derby against Inter. With all due respect to Club Brugge, the Serie A behemoths should have little trouble securing victory this Tuesday.
Club Brugge are potentially without two of their greatest attacking threats but Milan have struggled defensively at times this term. The Belgian visitors will fancy their chances of grabbing a goal at the very least from their trip to Milan but it should be nothing more than a consolation.
