Man City vs AC Milan preview, H2H, team news, line-ups and prediction

Premier League champions, Manchester City will look to return to winning ways when they face Italian giants AC Milan in their second pre-season game at the ongoing United States tour. The match will take place in front of a stacked crowd that includes thousands of fans from the two teams at the  46 thousand-capacity Yankee Stadium.

Fresh off a historic fourth consecutive Premier League win, the Cityzens began their pre-season preparations on the losing side, against a free-scoring Celtic side that have netted 15 goals in all their preseason fixtures so far against Ayr United, Queens Park Rangers, D.C United and in the 4-3 win over City.

It was their second successive loss after losing the FA Cup final to Manchester United in May.

Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish were given starts in the starting lineup but there was more worry in Pep Guardiola’s defensive line that saw Celtic penetrate with ease to record a sky-high 13 shots.

Brendan Rodgers handed a first debut to goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and ensured his side took advantage of their early preseason preparations by taking the lead against the English side that looked rusty most times.

Nicolas-Gerrit Kuhn opened the scoring for the Bhoys before Oscar Bobb tied the game level. Celtic were 3-1 up at halftime through a Khun second strike and Kyogo Furuhashi. Argentine gem Máximo Perrone pulled one back for the Cityzens before Haaland drew City back to tie the game at 3-3. Rodger’s substitutions paid off as one of the second-half substitutes, Luis Palma scored the winner to hand the Northern Ireland manager another victory against City.

Guardiola will rally his troupes to avoid a third successive loss when his side faces an inspired Milan side aiming for the Scudetto next season.

Fonseca took over as the club’s new manager in June, succeeding Stefano Pioli, who was dismissed in May after securing just one win in eight matches.

Although Pioli led Milan to their first title since the 2010-11 season in 2021-22, his tenure ended after the team finished 20 points behind champions Napoli in 2022-23 and 19 points behind their rivals Inter last season.

For Fonseca, this role as Rossoneri boss marks his 12th managerial position and his second stint in Italy, having coached Roma from June 2019 to June 2021.

Last season, Milan scored 76 goals and conceded 49, ranking as the division’s second-best attack and 11th in defence.

Fonseca’s side have not found a win yet in their preseason campaign having played two matches so far.

They lost 5-2 to Italian rivals, AS Roma in May with Theo Hernandez and Noah Okafor netting the two goals for the Rossoneri. They recently took on playing out a 1-1 draw against 32-time Austrian Bundesliga champions, Rapid Vienna. A second-half opener from Alessandro Florenzi in the 64th minute was cancelled late in the second half with Furkan Demir netting the equaliser.

Milan did not threaten much despite having more possession and only finished the game with two shots while Vienna recorded 12. They will need to up their tempo, especially with a pile of quality opponents in their next fixtures including City, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Man City vs AC Milan match details

• Date: Saturday, 27 July, 2024
• Location: New York City, United States
• Venue: Yankee Stadium
• Kick-off time: 10:00 PM UTC, 06:00 PM ET, 11:00 PM BST
• Tickets: Supporters can buy Man City vs AC Milan tickets at Seatsnet.com.

Match stats and head-to-head

• These two sides have only met twice in a competitive fixture. First in the third round of the UEFA Cup in the 1978-79 season, and second in the return leg of the same competition where Man City won 3-0 to win 5-2 on aggregate.

• The last time these two sides met was in an unofficial match in a preseason fixture. It was in a similar tour of the United States where Manuel Pellegrini’s led City side thumped Milan to a 5-1 win courtesy of goals from Stevan Jovetic, Gael Clichy, Jesus Navas and Kelechi Iheanacho.

• Pep Guardiola fielded a record number of fourteen academy graduates in the 4-3 loss to Celtic.

• Newly appointed Milan coach, Paulo Fonseca will be undertaking his 12th career managerial role and his second in Serie A having coached AS Roma from 2019-2021.

Team news

City’s contingent that participated in continental competitions including Rodri, Julian Alvarez, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden Manuel Akanji, Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol are all expected to miss out on the clash against Milan on Sunday. While some of the players are expected to join the team in the United States, it is unlikely that they will participate in the game.

Youngsters including Luke Mbete, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey and Josh Wilson-Esbrand all started in the defeat against Celtic and are expected to feature again this weekend.

Saudi-linked Ederson Moraes is torn between a move to the Middle East or remaining in City this summer. His place in the first team remains uncertain with Stefan Ortega impressing so far.

Kalvin Philips featured in the City’s first preseason game but was withdrawn later in the game. It is unclear if his withdrawal was more of a tactical switch or an injury concern.

For Milan, Fonseca will be without new signing Alvaro Morata who is currently on holiday after he participated in the European Championship where he captained Spain to victory.

The rest of the international contingent including Mike Maignan, Theo Hernandez, and Tijjani Reijnders are expected to join up with the squad in the United States.

In a major boost to the Rossoneri, Rafael Leao has travelled for the preseason tour and will be hoping to feature against City.

First-team regulars including Fikayo Tomori, Ismael Bennacer and Alessandro Florenzi could be handed a start as Fonseca will be looking to field a strong lineup against City.

Predicted starting lineup

City predicted starting lineup:

Ortega; Lewis, Mbete, Simpson-Pusey, Wilson-Esbrand; Phillips, Perrone; Bobb, McAtee, Grealish; Haaland.

Milan predicted starting lineup:

Sportiello; Calabria, Tomori, Jimenez, Florenzi; Bennacer, Pobega; Chukwueze, Liberali, Traore; Colombo.

Prediction

City without a host of his first-team regulars with Erling Haalan, Jack Grealish, Ortega and Ederson being the only regular senior players in the squad.

The inexperience in the squad was evident particularly in the backline as Celtic carved openings with ease.

Guardiola will look to make amends this time and will hope to make a statement of intent ahead of tougher fixtures against Barcelona and Chelsea.

On the other hand, Fonseca is still searching for his first win since taking over the reins at San Siro. He has a more experienced squad and will look to make up for their poor showing against Vienna.

With Leap joining the squad, they have enough arsenal to emerge victorious but their style of play could prove to be the determiner against a City side that are tipped to dominate the game.

We’re predicting a 3:1 win for City.