Overview
Just when the victory in the derby seemed to have reopened the Scudetto race this season, when the gap between Milan and Inter was narrowed to 7 points, Rossoneri stumbled at the Olimpico stadium.
After the city rivals were held to a 1-1 draw by Atalanta, coach Max Allegri's team traveled to Rome to play an important match against Lazio.
However, Milan finally returned empty-handed, suffering their first away defeat in Serie A this season, 3 months after Lazio once eliminated them from the Coppa Italia also on this stage.
This result disrupted Rossoneri's 24-match unbeaten streak, with two defeats in the last 4 matches - a worrying sign in the decisive stage of the season.
Winning a Champions League spot is still uncertain, while Napoli has returned to the second-place race. Therefore, Milan must avoid the prospect of losing 2 consecutive matches in Serie A for the first time in 12 months.
According to statistics, that may not be a problem in this round, because the last time Rossoneri lost to Torino at San Siro in Serie A was in 1985.
Since then, Torino has been a guest here 29 times but could not win, even losing 20 of those matches. In the most recent confrontation in December, Torino once led by two goals in Turin but still let Milan come back to win 3-2.
This season, Granata showed unstable form when losing nearly half of their Serie A matches, and also possessing the second worst defense in the league. They also only won one point in their last five away trips.
However, the appearance of interim coach Roberto D'Aversa has brought positive signals. Torino just beat Parma 4-1 last weekend, with three goals in the second half helping them widen the gap with the relegation group.
D'Aversa was assigned the task of staying in the league and initially completed well with 6 points after 3 matches. However, improving away form is still a difficult problem.
In all competitions, Torino has conceded 15 goals in their last 5 away matches - statistics that make this away trip to San Siro a risky challenge.
Personnel situation
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Matteo Gabbia are still sidelined due to injuries, while Santiago Gimenez is likely not to play even though he has just returned after 4 months of injury recovery.
In the opposite direction, Max Allegri welcomed good news when Adrien Rabiot's suspension expired after the defeat to Lazio. The French midfielder is likely to start in the midfield trio, where Luka Modric continues to play the role of regulating the play.
Although he has turned 40, Modric is still the player who has played the most minutes for AC Milan in Serie A this season (2.366 minutes) - his highest number in the last 5 years.
In attack, Milan has four options competing for two starting spots, including Christopher Nkunku, Niclas Fullkrug, Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic.
On the visiting team's side, captain Duvan Zapata also has a chance to score against Milan, with a total of eight goals against Rossoneri. He just came on as a substitute and scored in the victory against Parma, thereby ready to compete for a starting spot with Che Adams or Giovanni Simeone at San Siro.
Torino's only uncertain case is Zakaria Aboukhlal. The Moroccan winger has been absent for the last 4 matches due to two different injuries, including a knee problem.
Expected lineup:
AC Milan: Maignan, Tomori, De Winter, Pavlovic, Saelemaekers, Fofana, Modric, Rabiot, Bartesaghi, Pulisic, Leao.
Torino: Paleari, Coco, Ismajli, Ebosse, Pedersen, Gineitis, Ilkhan, Vlasic, Obrador, Adams, Simeone.
The match between AC Milan and Torino takes place at 0:00 AM on March 22 (Vietnam time).
