Saturday’s Serie A program caps off at Stadio San Siro as mid-table AC Milan take on an already-relegated Monza on the final weekend. This fixture has all the makings of a ‘dead rubber’ as neither side can do anything to improve their situation.
After four consecutive top-four finishes in Serie A, Milan will miss out on European football. Despite the club’s heavy investments in the transfer market, virtually nothing has gone Milan’s way this season. January’s Supercoppa Italiana triumph remains the only saving grace.
However, it can hardly compensate for the 19-time champions’ dreadful league campaign. With seventh-placed Fiorentina boasting a two-point cushion pre-round, Milan face the ignominy of finishing outside Serie A’s top seven for the first time since 2014/15.
Sergio Conceicao will unlikely stay in the dugout beyond the summer. Therefore, he hopes to round off his first season in charge with a win. Milan will be out to bounce back from a dismal 3-1 defeat at Roma last Sunday, with rock-bottom Monza rolling into town.
Manager Alessandro Nesta returns to his old stomping ground as his charges prepare to wave goodbye to Serie A after three years. Monza’s miserable campaign is a far cry from back-to-back mid-table finishes in the past two seasons. Now that they have nothing but pride left to play for, they’ll look to bow out on a high.
Milan
Sergio Conceiçao would have had some small chances to stay on the Milan bench by winning the Coppa Italia, but his team didn’t come through.
Bologna’s 1-0 win in last week’s Coppa Italia final could have substantial implications for Milan’s short-term plans. Per Calcio e Finanza, there’s a €100 million hole to be fixed, which could massively derail Igli Tare’s quest to strengthen the squad in his first transfer window in charge.
The sale of Tijjani Reijnders, closely followed by Manchester City, could become a necessity. The Dutchman may, therefore, play his final game at San Siro this weekend. Milan beat Bologna 3-1 in their last home league outing, halting a two-game winless streak here (D1, L1).
While that’s a positive, it’s worth noting Milan had to fight back from a deficit again. In fact, only six teams have conceded the opening goal on more occasions than the Rossoneri (19) this season. Another slow start could compromise their hopes of improving an underwhelming seven-game league form at San Siro (W2, D3, L2).
However, Milan have been ruthless against the division’s bottom six this term, racking up ten victories from 11 such matches (L1), including a narrow 1-0 win in November’s reverse fixture against Monza.
Monza
Monza are going back to Alessandro Nesta, as handing the keys to Salvatore Bocchetti didn’t produce the turnaround they were hoping for.
A disheartening 3-1 defeat to fellow bottom-half strugglers Empoli left Monza nailed to the bottom of the table with only three league wins all season (D9, L25). Yet, two of those three triumphs came on the road, including a 2-1 win at Udinese on their most recent Serie A travel.
That result saw Monza end a woeful run of 11 successive league losses on hostile turf, highlighting the depth of the crisis at Stadio Brianteo this term. Another defeat looks like a virtual certainty, not least because Nesta’s men have lost both away league games against Milan.
Furthermore, they conceded 3+ goals on both previous top-flight visits to San Siro to meet the Rossoneri. Ominously, that’s been the case in five of their nine Serie A away games in 2025.
This time, they may not even reply. Indeed, the visitors had failed to score in three straight league matches on the road before winning in Udine.
Milan overhauled their squad in January, changing three starters and bringing in a few more rotational pieces, but it wasn’t just to appease the fans.
Illness will prevent Manchester City loanee Kyle Walker from featuring while Theo Hernandez is out with a thigh injury. Milan may also be without Samuel Chukwueze and Warren Bondo in the season finale. Finally, Santiago Gimenez is unavailable for selection after picking up a red card against Roma last time out.
On the other hand, Monza must cope with numerous absences on the final weekend. Armando Izzo, Matteo Pessina, Roberto Gagliardini, Danilo D’Ambrosio, and Omari Forson are on the sidelines. Encouragingly, Pedro Pereira is back from suspension, with Keita Balde likely to lead the line after recovering from injury.
AC Milan (3-4-3): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Musah, Loftus-Cheek, Reijnders, Jimenez; Pulisic, Jovic, Leao.
Monza (3-5-2): Pizzignacco; Pedro Pereira, Brorsson, Caldirola; Birindelli, Castrovilli, Bianco, Akpa Akpro, Kyriakopoulos; Keita Balde, Caprari.
Despite hitting rock bottom last weekend, Milan should sign off in style. As aforementioned, they’ve been formidable against Serie A’s ‘lesser teams.’ As such, the home team’s victory looks like a foregone conclusion.
Cultofcalcio.com
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