Serie A Preview: Hellas Verona vs Milan – Team News, Line-ups & Prediction

Paulo Fonseca’s tenure at Milan is at a crossroads ahead of Friday’s must-win Serie A road trip to Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi to meet Hellas Verona. Despite Milan’s impressive run in the UEFA Champions League, the Portuguese manager’s career at Stadio San Siro could soon reach a point of no return.

Verona could add to their visitors’ domestic woes after toppling newcomers Parma in last weekend’s five-goal thriller at Stadio Ennio Tardini to end a four-game losing league run. Goals from Diego Coppola, Amin Sarr, and Daniel Mosquera inspired the Gialloblu to a goal-glutted 3-2 win in Emilia-Romagna, lifting them out of the bottom three.

More importantly, Verona’s joint-most prolific performance since a 3-0 day-one triumph against Napoli threw under-pressure manager Paolo Zanetti another lifeline. However, the 42-year-old is walking a tightrope and must tread carefully, as any new fiasco could prove the scourge of his topsy-turvy reign in Veneto.

The same goes for Fonseca, who’s seemingly losing support from crucial first-team stars in the dressing room. His quarrel with Theo Hernandez escalated last weekend as the ex-Roma boss left the talismanic left-back on the bench in a heart-wrenching 0-0 home draw against bottom-half Genoa. Fonseca couldn’t have picked a worse occasion to sideline the Milan superstar.

Indeed, another uneventful performance was hardly an ideal way to celebrate the club’s 125th birthday. Milan legends in the stands had nothing noteworthy to witness except Alvaro Morata’s unfathomable miss deep into the second half as the Rossoneri finished the last round five points adrift of the top six.

Match Preview

Hellas Verona

With just two victories in their last nine Serie A outings (L7), Verona could hardly be blamed for feeling less optimistic about their prospects against one of the division’s elite teams. However, they’ve proved perfectly capable of punching above their weight.

In addition to a remarkable triumph against Napoli, Verona stunned Roma 3-2 on this ground in early November. Both victories saw Zanetti’s side break the deadlock and find the net beyond the 85th minute, highlighting the potential for a late drama.

Interestingly, the hosts are the sole Serie A club without a single draw this season (W5, L11). Only one more side from Europe’s traditional top-five leagues belongs to this category. Given the recent history of this match-up, Verona would likely sign up for a stalemate here.

Milan

Since a 2-2 home draw in November 2020, Milan have dominated Verona in seven subsequent top-flight meetings, including a thumping 3-1 victory in this corresponding fixture last term. That win forms part of Milan’s morale-boosting five-game winning run at this stadium, with the Rossoneri bagging at least two goals in the previous four.

Delivering action from the get-go, Milan found the back of the net before halftime in their last five encounters against Verona, taking a 1-0 lead at the break on three occasions. They’ll likely need another flying start to set the tone for an all-important triumph, considering they can’t afford to lose more ground on the European spots.

However, the visitors have significantly stuttered on the road this season. For context, they’re the only team from last season’s Serie A top-five yet to smash a 10-point milestone away from home (W2, D2, L3). A 2-1 defeat at Atalanta on their last league travel was Milan’s first in five competitive away games (W3, D1).

But it was the third in a row to see Milan concede multiple goals.

Team News

In addition to long-term absentees Juan Cruz and Martin Frese, Verona will be without ACL victim Abdou Harroui. Zanetti will likely rely on Mosquera to make a difference in the final third, with only Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran netting more goals as a substitute than the Colombian forward’s four this season.

On the other hand, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham became the latest Milan stars to succumb to injuries, coming off against Genoa already in the first half. The English duo has joined Ismael Bennacer, Luka Jovic, Alessandro Florenzi, Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah, and Noah Okafor on the treatment table.

Hellas Verona vs Milan Potential Starting Line-ups

Hellas Verona (3-4-2-1): Montipo; Dawidowicz, Coppola, Ghilardi; Tchatchoua, Duda, Belahyane, Lazovic; Suslov, Tengstedt; Sarr.

Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Emerson, Gabbia, Thiaw, Jimenez; Fofana, Reijnders; Chukwueze, Morata, Leao; Abraham.

Hellas Verona vs Milan Prediction

Reduced to bare bones amid a full-blown injury crisis, Milan must demonstrate mental fortitude to return to the win column. Luckily, their opposition has conceded an alarming average of nearly three goals per game on home turf, suggesting Fonseca could weather another storm on the sheer gulf in quality.

Prediction: Milan to Win

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