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After an impressive pre-season, AC Milan are set to return to competitive play on Saturday evening as they host Torino at San Siro.
Both teams are under new leadership for the upcoming Serie A season, with Paulo Fonseca eager to make a strong start in his new role.Lille’s former manager Paulo Fonseca, now leading AC Milan, is stepping in after Stefano Pioli’s departure, which came after an inconsistent 2023-24 season that saw Milan lose momentum despite having won the Scudetto two years prior and nearly reaching the Champions League final. Pioli’s final campaign ended with only one win in nine games, leading to widespread calls for change.
Now, with Fonseca at the helm and club legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a key role within the boardroom, Milan aims to close the gap with city rivals Inter Milan, who finished 19 points ahead last season.
Fonseca has already guided Milan to victories in high-profile friendlies against Manchester City, Real Madrid, and Barcelona. They concluded their pre-season with a 3-1 win over Monza in the Trofeo Berlusconi. Fonseca’s previous team, Lille, had the most clean sheets in Ligue 1 last season (22) and scored the second-most goals, just behind Paris Saint-Germain, suggesting a potential revival for Milan in the 2024-25 season.
Milan’s recent history also favors a strong start on Saturday, as they have won their last four Serie A season openers and are unbeaten in 28 home league matches against Torino.
Torino, on the other hand, have not won a Serie A match away at Milan since March 1985, though they did defeat the Rossoneri 3-1 in Turin as recently as May.
After parting ways with former coach Ivan Juric, who left on a sour note despite stabilizing the team, Torino are now led by Paolo Vanoli. The Granata narrowly missed out on European qualification last season, boasting an impressive 18 clean sheets, their best record in nearly 50 years. However, they lost defensive stalwart Alessandro Buongiorno over the summer.
Vanoli, who previously served as Antonio Conte’s assistant with Italy and Inter, led Venezia to promotion through last season’s Serie B playoffs. He began his tenure at Torino with a 2-0 Coppa Italia win over Cosenza last week and now heads to Milan with hopes of pulling off an upset.
