The Stefano Pioli era begins at AC Milan on Sunday night at 20:45 as he takes charge of his new side for the first time when they take on Lecce at San Siro.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Milan (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Conti, Musacchio, Romagnoli, Theo Hernandez; Kessié, Biglia, Paquetà; Suso, Rafael Leao, Rebic.
Unavailable: Caldara.
Suspended: Calabria, Castillejo.
Lecce (4-3-1-2): Gabriel; Rispoli, Rossettini, Lucioni, Calderoni; Majer,Tachtsidis, Petriccione; Mancosu; Falco, Babacar.
Unavailable: Imbula.
KEY STATISTICS
– AC Milan have lost just two of their 30 Serie A meetings against Lecce (W18 D10).
– AC Milan have won each of their last eight Serie A home games against Lecce: among the teams currently in the competition, only against Cagliari (14) have they had a longer winning run.
– AC Milan’s last Serie A defeat against a promoted team was back in April 2018 (Benevento); since then they recorded six wins and three draws.
– Lecce’s last Serie A away victory in Lombardy was back in January 2005 (1-0 v Brescia): they’ve mustered three draws and 11 defeats since then.
– AC Milan have lost their last two Serie A home games: they last lost three such matches in a row in the competition in November 2006.
– Lecce have won all of their six points this season in away league games: they are the only Serie A side (alongside Brescia) to have earned 100% of their points on the road.
– No side has scored fewer goals from open play than AC Milan in Serie A this season (two) – the Rossoneri have scored 67% of their goals from set-piece situations, the highest ratio in the top-flight.
– AC Milan’s new coach Stefano Pioli has won two, drawn two and lost two games in his top-flight debut with new clubs – two of these matches have been against Milan (in charge of Lazio and Inter).
– Lucas Biglia is the only current AC Milan player to have been managed by Pioli in Serie A – he made 48 appearances in two seasons with Lazio, scoring seven goals and delivering five assists.
– Lecce’s only current player to have found the net against AC Milan in Serie A is Diego Farias, who scored an away goal in March 2015 for Cagliari – no current AC Milan player has scored against Lecce in the competition.
