It’s safe to say that it hasn’t been the season either Lazio or AC Milan envisioned when the season began.
The Roman club is coming off a season that saw them finished a point off arch-rivals AS Roma for second place in Serie A behind champions Juventus. Lazio also crashed out of the Champions League in the qualifying rounds versus Bayer Leverkusen, and currently sit eighth in the league table. The club is a staggering 26 points of the Bianconeri at this point.
With a win, the capitol club can potentially pull even with Sassuolo in a tie for seventh place should the Neroverdi lose.
While Lazio’s opponents, Milan, have improved from a tenth place finish last season (the Rossoneri are currently in sixth place in the standings), the team hasn’t been able to make noise in the Scudetto race. This comes as a slight disappointment after a summer that featured large investments in the on-field product. Big-money transfers such as midfielder Andrea Bertolacci, defender Alessio Romagnoli and forwards Luiz Adriano and Carlos Bacca haven’t been able to propel the squad to the top of the table. Milan are seven points clear of Lazio, and are 19 points off the lead in Serie A.
Should the San Siro tenants win, they could move to within three points of city rival Inter for fifth place if the Nerazzurri fail to collect points.
Previous Meeting
The last time these two teams met, Milan scored a 3-1 win away to Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico. The Rossoneri got goals from Bertolacci, Bacca and Philippe Mexes. Giacomo Bonaventura led the way with a couple of assists for the Rossoneri. Lazio netted a consolation goal late in the game via a strike from Ricardo Kishna, but that was about the only highlight for the hosts, who got blown out at home.
Past Form
It shouldn’t be surprising that, based on the standings, Milan has been better as of late where form is concerned. The team has only lost once in the last 14 games. The northern club lost a recent contest to Sassuolo. That was the only blemish during a span that included eight wins and five losses.
Lazio have been less fortunate over the same span, with just four wins in the club’s past 14 matches. The team also lost four games and notched draws in six. The Biancocelesti were recently embarrassed by Sparta Prague 3-0 in Rome during the second leg of a Europa League knockout-round tie.