Winter champions AC Milan begin their assault on attempting to keep the crown in May when they travel to Bologna on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 15:00).
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Bologna (4-2-3-1): Skorupski; De Silvestri, Danilo, Tomiyasu, Dijks; Svanberg, Schouten; Orsolini, Soriano, Barrow; Palacio.
Unavailable: Medel, Santander.
AC Milan (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma; Calabria, Tomori, Romagnoli, Hernandez; Tonali, Kessie; Saelemaekers, Rebic, Leao; Ibrahimovic.
Unavailable: Gabbia, Kjaer, Diaz.
KEY STATISTICS
– Bologna have only won one of their last 22 Serie A meetings against AC Milan (D5 L16), 1-0 win at San Siro in January 2016 thanks to an Emanuele Giaccherini goal – they have failed to score 10 times in the process.
– AC Milan are unbeaten in their last 14 Serie A away games against Bologna (W10 D4): only Juventus have avoided defeat in more successive Serie A games on the road against the Rossoblu in the competition (17 and counting).
– Bologna have lost each of their last eight Serie A games against teams in first place before the beginning of the match-day: they last avoided defeat in February 2016 (0-0 against Juventus).
– Bologna kept a clean sheet in their last Serie A home match against Verona and could record two in a row for the first time since April 2019 (against Chievo and Sampdoria).
– AC Milan could score in 20 successive Serie A away matches for the first time in their history, overtaking the run of 19 between March 1992 and April 1993.
– AC Milan have scored 2+ goals in their last 15 Serie A away games: only Barcelona have had a longer such run in the top five European leagues (20 between 2012 and 2013).
– AC Milan have scored 23% of their league goals from the penalty spot this season (9/39), the highest percentage; on the other hand, Bologna have scored only 4% (1/24) from penalties, the lowest ratio.
– Sinisa Mihajlovic won 41% of his Serie A matches as a coach for AC Milan (58% for Stefano Pioli), whilst Pioli has won 30% of his games with Bologna (32% for Mihajlovic).
– Roberto Soriano could play his 200th Serie A game: he has scored the joint-most Serie A home goals this season amongst midfielders (five, alongside Jordan Veretout).
– Alexis Saelemaekers scored his first goal for AC Milan in July 2020 against Bologna: in the three points for a win era, he has played the most Serie A games without a single defeat (27).
