Overview
After a stumble right in the first round in the journey to defend the Italian Super Cup, when losing to Napoli 0-2 in the semi-finals (the team that then won the championship), AC Milan partly redeemed themselves with 3 points in the last Serie A match of 2025.
Temporarily regaining the top spot from rival Inter, Rossoneri exploded in 10 minutes against Hellas Verona with 3 goals. Christian Pulisic opened the score, before Christopher Nkunku ended his scoring thirst in Serie A with a double.
In the extremely close Scudetto race - only 4 points separating the 5 leading teams - Massimiliano Allegri's team is sending a signal that the championship can completely become a realistic goal, especially when they are no longer entangled in any cup arena.
After the previous season ended in disappointment, Milan recovered quickly after the opening defeat and established a 15-match unbeaten streak in Serie A this season - their best achievement since the 2021-2022 season.
With Allegri placing his trust in a stable squad, notably Luka Modric, Pulisic and captain Mike Maignan, Milan has also become one of the fewest substitutions in the top 5 European leagues.
In this round, Allegri returned to Cagliari, where he had coached from July 2008 to April 2010, going through 74 matches before leaving to start his first term at San Siro.
Despite being unbeaten in 14 encounters with Cagliari in the tournament, Rossoneri could not beat this opponent last season. The most notable was the 3-3 draw at home, when Gabriele Zappa scored a double in the second half to help Cagliari escape defeat.
To date, the two teams have met 46 times in Sardinia and the home team has only won 5 times. In fact, the last time Cagliari defeated Milan was a 2-1 victory in May 2017, with Fabio Pisacane's late goal.
Now, in the role of coach, Pisacane is assigned the task of keeping Cagliari in the highest league table in Italy and extending their stay in Serie A to a third consecutive season. However, Rossoblu is still in a precarious position, as they have only won 1 of their last 12 matches in Serie A before the away match to Turin last weekend.
Despite being led, Cagliari still reversed to defeat Torino. Matteo Prati ended his goal drought in the tournament, before Semih Kilicsoy scored the decisive goal in the middle of the second half in a tense match.
Ranked 14th in the rankings, the familiar relegation race is still waiting for Cagliari in 2026. And Isolani Stadium will start the new year with a big challenge when hosting Milan.
Personnel situation
AC Milan hopes Rafael Leao will be present in this match in time. However, Matteo Gabbia and Santiago Gimenez have not yet been able to play.
In case Leao has not reached his best physical condition, Pulisic is likely to partner with Christopher Nkunku in attack, in Allegri's favorite 3-5-2 formation.
In the opposite direction, Cagliari may welcome Juan Rodriguez and Yerry Mina back after recovering. However, the home team still lacks many important personnel such as Andrea Belotti, Ze Pedro, Mattia Felici and Michael Folorunsho.
In which, Folorunsho has just undergone ligament surgery first and will have to be out for a few more weeks. In addition, Angolan winger Zito Luvumbo is on duty at the African Cup.
Expected lineup:
Caprile, Zappa, Mina, Luperto, Palestra, Adopo, Deiola, Prati, Idrissi, Esposito, Kilicsoy.
AC Milan: Maignan, Tomori, De Winter, Pavlovic, Saelemaekers, Loftus-Cheek, Modric, Rabiot, Bartesaghi, Pulisic, Nkunku.
The match between Cagliari and AC Milan takes place at 2:45 AM on January 3rd (Vietnam time).
