Poor form and heavy absences: Milan vs Fiorentina
Having lost their previous four league games, AC Milan desperately needs to win this evening against Fiorentina to turn things around. Apart from their subpar performance, there are also a few notable absences to be concerned about.
Milan has had multiple players on the injury list this season, as has been the case, but this is an unprecedented crisis. Due to suspension,will not play in the match, and Rafael Leao is still healing from an injury. Two significant absences, as the statistics attest to.
Jan-Carlo Simic, 18, will be the center-back option on the bench, and 15-year-old Francesco Camarda will be the striker. It conveys a great deal about the circumstances. The best stats before the game are listed below, and you can read our pre-match preview here.
The figures
➤ Milan leads the series 76–46 against Fiorentina in Serie A; the only team with more victories over the Viola than Rossoneri in the top division is Juventus (81); the only opponent  defeated more times by the Rossoneri in the competition is Roma (79).
➤ Fiorentina has lost its last three away Serie A games against AC Milan; the Viola have only lost their last three away games against Pro Vercelli, Roma, and Venezia.
➤ Milan has already lost three times as many Serie A games in 2023 as the Rossoneri did in 2022. Should they lose to Fiorentina, they will have lost nine times in a calendar year in Serie A, which would be a record 23 times in their history (the most recent being in 2021, when they lost ten games).
➤ Milan has lost two of its last four Serie A games (D2), matching the number of losses from their previous 19 games (W13 D4); additionally, the Rossoneri have conceded goals in two of their most recent four league games, matching the number of times they did so in their previous 25.
➤ Fiorentina have lost three of their last four Serie A matches without scoring, winning the most recent one (2-1 v Bologna): it is the same number of defeats suffered by the Viola in the previous 24 top-flight matches, and the same number of goalless matches they registered in the previous 27.
➤ Fiorentina have scored six headed goals in Serie A this season – a joint-high with Roma – while Milan are one of only two sides, along with Inter, yet to concede this kind of goal so far.
➤ Milan has lost its last three home games in Serie A back in 2006; on the other hand, the Rossoneri have lost their last three home games in the top division without winning any of them since 1930.
➤ After winning their most recent Serie A match 2-1 against Bologna, Fiorentina has lost three of their last four games without scoring. This is equal to the number of defeats the Violas had in their previous 24 games played in the top division and the number of goalless games they had in their previous 27 games.
☤ This season, Fiorentina and Roma have combined for a season-high six headed goals in Serie A, while Milan and Inter are the only two teams not to have given up a header goal thus far.
➤ Fiorentina has scored 97 goals in all competitions in 2023, which is more than any other Serie A team and fewer than teams in the big five European Leagues, including Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Bayer Leverkusen. The only time the Violas have scored more goals in a calendar year is in 2015, when they scored 101 goals.
➧ Over the course of the last three Serie A seasons, Milan has played 20 games without either Olivier Giroud or Rafael Leão. The Rossoneri’s winning percentage in these games was 45%, as opposed to 65% when both players were on the field. Overall, during that time, AC Milan has only twice competed in Serie A without both players: on December 1, 2021, in a 3-0 victory over Genoa, and on December 11, 2021, in a 1-1 draw against Udinese.
