Last Sunday’s match of the 26th round of Italian Serie A is at the same time the most interesting of all as two great rivals meet at the Olimpico stadium in Rome, Roma and Milan. True, 3rd-placed Roma currently has nine points more than 7th-placed Milan, but on the other hand the Rossoneri are in a bit better shape and consequently their head-to-head could be very interesting and uncertain match. We need to bear in mind that even four previous duels between the two teams had ended as Roma’s victories.
Last autumn Roma triumphed at the San Siro by 2-0 and confirmed once again that they like playing at the stadium, as they defeated the Rossoneri two times before that by 3-1 and 4-1. On the other hand, they won at their Olimpico by mere 1-0 last year. Before that Roma drew two matches with Milan, which is definitely the best possible warning for the home team ahead of the match, especially as their rival has significantly improved its form.
On the other hand, this match comes for Roma after being defeated last week in the 1s leg of the Champions League round of 16 by Shakhtar 2-1, while before that they won three league matches in a row which propelled them to the third place in the table, although they have just one point more than Lazio and two than Inter. Right because of that victory over Milan would be very welcomed. This match will skip only from before injured defender Karsdorp and midfielder Gonalons.
Probable lineups AS Roma: Alisson – Florenzi, Manolas, Fazio, Kolarov – Strootman, Pellegrini – Under, Nainggolan, Perotti – Dzeko
The guests from Milan are before the derby in the best shape since the season started, given their four-game winning streak, while out of last 11 matches played in three different competitions they won even eighth and drew just three. Of course, new manager Gattuso takes a great part of the credit as he obviously managed to find the right chemistry between the players. Milan is back in the race for positions that lead to the Europa League as it has the same number of points like 6th-placed Sampdoria.
Milan defeated right that team in previous round of Serie A, by 1-0 at home, while before and after the match they defeated Bulgarian champion Ludogorets two times with a clean sheet in the round of 32 of Europa League. In the meantime, they drew 0-0 with Lazio at home in the 1st semi-final match of the Coppa Italia. The 2nd leg match is scheduled right after this match with Roma. Let’s add that due to injuries out of action are only goalkeeper Storari and defender Conti, wile not fully recovered defender Calabrie is questionable for this match.
Probable lineups AC Milan: G.Donnarumma – Abate, Bonucci, Romagnoli, Rodriguez – Kessie, Biglia, Bonaventura – Suso, Cutrone, Calhanoglu
Although both teams played demanding European matches last week we still believe that both have strong desire to win this derby of the Serie A, and therefore we have opted for a pick with goals on both sides.
Pick: both teams to score
1.74 - 74/100