Two European giants are set to reignite their rivalry beneath the intense lights of the San Siro as AC Milan and Liverpool kick off their 2024/25 Champions League marketing campaign on Tuesday evening.
With either side boasting wealthy continental histories, the stage is about for one more thrilling encounter in Europe’s high competitors.
AC Milan, beneath new boss Paulo Fonseca, and Liverpool, led by recent face Arne Slot, are out to erase their early-season stumbles.
Slot, who took the reins from Jurgen Klopp, inherited a group that secured a third-place end within the Premier League, making certain their return to Champions League soccer.
Nonetheless, way more is predicted from the Reds this season, particularly after lacking out on silverware final time period.
Liverpool’s first-round journey is full of high-stakes showdowns. Along with dealing with acquainted foes AC Milan, they may lock horns with reigning champions Actual Madrid and Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen. Bologna, RB Leipzig, Girona, Lille, and PSV Eindhoven may also intention to throw a spanner in Liverpool’s European ambitions.
Solely the highest eight groups from the 36-club league section will sail into the final 16, whereas these ending ninth to twenty fourth may have a playoff lifeline. For groups ranked twenty fifth and beneath, it’s the top of the highway.
Liverpool arrived in Milan off the again of a uncommon Premier League slip—a 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, the place a shocking strike from Callum Hudson-Odoi punished their wastefulness in entrance of purpose.
Regardless of the setback, Liverpool’s file towards Italian sides stays sturdy, with 4 wins from their final 5 European journeys to Italy. Nonetheless, reminiscences of their Europa League quarter-final exit to Atalanta final season are nonetheless recent.
AC Milan, in the meantime, lastly bought off the mark in Serie A with a commanding 4-0 victory over Venezia. After a sluggish begin to the season, Fonseca’s males bagged their first win because of quick-fire objectives from Theo Hernandez, Youssouf Fofana, Christian Pulisic, and Rafael Leao.
Fonseca, who confronted early strain after amassing simply two factors from his opening three matches, now appears to be like to construct on that momentum as he takes cost of his first Champions League match with Milan.
The Rossoneri will face robust competitors within the group stage, with Actual Madrid, Leverkusen, Girona, Membership Brugge, Dinamo Zagreb, Slovan Bratislava, and Pink Star Belgrade additionally within the combine. However for the Milan devoted, revenge over Liverpool is excessive on the agenda.
Although Milan avenged the heartbreak of the 2005 Istanbul remaining with victory within the 2007 Champions League remaining, the Reds bought the higher of them within the 2021/22 group stage, profitable each encounters, together with a 2-1 triumph at San Siro the place former Liverpool cult hero, now-Milan outcast, Divock Origi, discovered the again of the online.
