Napoli kick off their first ever Champions League Quarter-final with a trip to Milano. Meanwhile, Milan, who have taken every opportunity to remind the world of their Champions League DNA, play in their first Champions League Quarter-final in over a decade.
AC Milan
After a statement 0-4 victory over Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Milan failed to find the back of the goal in a scoreless draw against Empoli. Stefano Pioli rested a number of his regular starters, including Rafael Leão, Olivier Giroud and Brahim Díaz.
Though Milan have won seven Champions League/European Cup titles, they did not participate in the world’s greatest club competitions for seven consecutive seasons. That run ended last season, when Milan finished dead last in their group.
This season Milan overcame RB Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb to finish second in Group E. After a 7th minute goal from Brahim Diaz in the first leg of Milan’s Round of 16 tie against Antonio Conte’s Tottenham, the Rossoneri held Tottemham scoreless for 173 minutes to advance to their first Quarter-final since the 2011/12 season, when they lost to Leo Messi’s Barcelona.
SSC Napoli
Napoli responded to their third league defeat of the season with a 1-2 victory over Lecce. Though the Partenopei were not particularly convincing for a second consecutive match, the win would have provided the Azzurri a boost in confidence, earning a win despite relinquishing an early lead.
Other than Bayern Munich, who won all eight of their Champions League matches prior to Tuesday’s loss to Manchester City, Napoli have been the most in-form side in this year’s competition. Their only loss was an all-but meaningless match against Livepool, and even with Manchester City’s 7-0 drubbing of RB Leipzig, no club scored more goals than Napoli heading in the the Quarter-final stage.
Injuries/Suspensions
Stefano Pioli has a full squad at his disposal. Pierre Kalulu has recovered from a calf injury suffered on international duty with France’s U21 team. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was not included in Milan’s Champions League squad list, remains sidelined with a muscular injury.
For Napoli, Victor Osimhen trained on his own on Easter Sunday but was not able to recover in time for the match. Giovanni Simeone is expected to be out for at least three weeks after suffering a muscular injury against Lecce. Meanwhile, Giacomo Raspadori was in doubt after doing personalized training on Monday. However, the Napoli forward completed the full group training on Tuesday.
Probable Formations
Manager’s Comments
Stefano Pioli:
“It is inevitable that we are talking about a great centre-forward, who has repeatedly scored in the league and in the Champions League. But they’re a team that has always won without Osimhen up until the match against us. They have the most prolific attack in the Champions League, they have all the qualities to be a formidable opponent…Clearly they will take Osimhen’s absence into consideration. Napoli are less dangerous in depth without Victor.”
Luciano Spalletti:
“AC Milan played a great match in Napoli and deservedly won. Evaluations are made, it’s the competition of champions. Champions don’t feel sorry each other and they find solutions to beat them. We have many champions in the squad, then it’s emotionality and character that can sometimes move. But as far as I’m concerned, I know the team and I know that tomorrow they will do everything to be better than Milan. A difficult match, we weren’t the strongest 15 days ago and we’re not the weakest now. We’re going to play a game that can say a lot for the future of us all, and we’ll be ready.”
Previous Meetings
| April 2, 2023 | SSC Napoli | 0-4 | AC Milan |
| September 18, 2022 | AC Milan | 1-2 | SSC Napoli |
| March 6, 2022 | SSC Napoli | 0-1 | AC Milan |
| December 19, 2021 | AC Milan | 0-1 | SSC Napoli |
| March 14, 2021 | AC Milan | 0-1 | SSC Napoli |
Match Officials
Head Official: István Kovács
Assistants: Vasile Florin Marinescu and Ovidiu Artene
Fourth Official: Horatiu Fesnic
VAR: Bastian Dankert and Marco Fritz
