Bologna haven’t beaten AC Milan at home since 2002

The top four train is very close to leaving without AC Milan, and that makes tonight’s game against Bologna a do-or-die.

Bologna-Milan was originally meant to be played at the end of October, but the game ended up being postponed due to risk of flooding in what actually ended up being quite a farcical situation in the end.

Fast-forward to the end of February, and the game has a lot more meaning now than it might have done then. The Rossoneri are eight points behind Juventus in fourth and this is the game in hand, so a win is needed to trim the gap.

The predicted starting XIs
Milan remain without Alessandro Florenzi and Emerson Royal. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is getting closer to a return but will not be available, while Kyle Walker will also sit out. Both Englishmen could be back after the Lazio fixture at the weekend.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), Sergio Conceicao will break up the ‘Fantastic Four’, the ‘Fab Four’ or whatever media-dubbed name you prefer. Joao Felix will be the one to miss out, with Christian Pulisic, Tijjani Reijnders and Rafael Leao operating behind Santiago Gimenez.

Yunus Musah will therefore partner the returning Youssouf Fofana in the midfield double pivot. Alex Jimenez, Malick Thiaw, Strahinja Pavlovic and Theo Hernandez should be the back four ahead of Mike Maignan.

The doubts are listed as Leao-Felix at 60-40% in favour of the former, then Musah-Felix again at 60-40%. The likes of Felix, Riccardo Sottil, Tammy Abraham, Samuel Chukwueze, Luka Jovic and Warren Bondo are bench options.

In their 125-year history, Bologna are the team that AC Milan have played the sixth-most competitive games against. The record is as follows: 186 matches across all competitions with 87 wins, 47 draws and 52 defeats, a win rate of 46.8%.

Milan won the game at the Dall’Ara last season in round one of the season. Olivier Giroud got the opening goal after just 11 minutes, and then ten minutes later Christian Pulisic marked his debut for the club with a goal of his own.

The game back at San Siro was an entertaining one, as Zirkzee but Bologna ahead after half an hour, then Loftus-Cheek scored a brace to put the Rossoneri in front. His second was in the 83rd minute, yet a penalty in added time gave Riccardo Orsolini the chance to earn a draw, which he took.

What is rather remarkable is that Milan have lost only two away games against Bologna this millenium, and they were the first two games that they played, in 2000-01 and 2001-02.

Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Jimenez, Tomori, Pavlovic, Theo; Fofana, Musah; Pulisic, Reijnders, Felix; Gimenez

Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Jimenez, Tomori, Pavlovic, Theo; Fofana, Musah; Pulisic, Reijnders, Felix; Gimenez.