AC Milan take on Bayer Leverkusen in blockbuster UCL clash.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs
Milan
As Bayer Leverkusen welcomes AC Milan for their first-ever European encounter at the BayArena, the German side aims to capitalize on their impressive home form and recent successes, while Milan seeks redemption after a shaky start in the Champions League and aims to rekindle their historically strong performances on German soil.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Leverkusen make a return to the UEFA Champions League buoyed by their recent performance against Bayern Munich. They broke Bayern's perfect Bundesliga record this season with a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena.
With their focus now on the Champions League, Leverkusen secured a dominant 4-0 win against Feyenoord in their opening fixture, marking their largest-ever away victory in the competition. Interestingly, this will be the first-ever European encounter between Leverkusen and Milan.
Leverkusen's track record against Italian teams isn't promising. In their previous 12 encounters with Serie A teams in the Champions League, they have only managed two victories [2W, 4D, 6L].
Their most recent game against an Italian opponent ended in a 3-0 loss to Atalanta in the UEFA Europa League final in Dublin on May 22, which was their only defeat in a season where they avoided losing in 53 matches across all competitions. However, Leverkusen's impressive home form in European competitions offers hope, as they are unbeaten in their last nine games on home soil [6W, 3D, 0L].
Xabi Alonso, with no injury worries, is expected to continue with his preferred 3—4—2—1 formation, deploying Victor Boniface in attack.
Milan
Contrastingly, Milan’s start to the Champions League was far from ideal, as they were outplayed by Liverpool in a 1-3 defeat at the San Siro. Since their loss to Slot's men, the Rossoneri have bounced back with consecutive victories over Lecce and Inter in the league.
Milan will hope to carry that form into this fixture and can draw inspiration from their fine history in Germany. Their last defeat on German soil came in April 2002, when they lost 4-0 to Borussia Dortmund.
Since then, Milan has only lost once in their last eight Champions League games against Bundesliga sides [3W, 4D, 1L], with that solitary defeat coming last season in a 1-3 defeat to Dortmund in November 2023. Milan’s away form in the Champions League is, however, less encouraging.
They have won their first away match in only one of their last seven campaigns [1W, 5D, 1L], and their most recent success came back in 2012-13 when they beat Zenit St. Petersburg [3-2].
For this fixture, Fonseca is expected to set up a 4—4—2 formation, with Álvaro Morata and Tammy Abraham in attack. Davide Calabria and Ismaël Bennacer are sidelined with injuries.
