AC Milan plays host to Group B leaders, Liverpool, in the final group stage of the UEFA Champions League 2021-22 season. The English club has already qualified for the knockout stage of the competition with a perfect record in five games and the other three teams are playing for the remaining spots.
The two teams last met at Anfield, with Liverpool winning the match 3-2. Fikayo Tomori scored an own goal and opened the goalscoring in the match. Mohamed Salah missed a penalty after that, but his team eventually won the match. A total of 22 shots were attempted by Liverpool, with an accuracy rate of 36.36%. AC Milan players attempted six shots and created an expected goal rate of 1.53. Mohamed Salah attempted the most number of shots and his expected goal rate was the highest in the match.
AC Milan is third in the Group-B table with one win, one draw, and three losses. They are currently in the Europa League spot, scoring five goals and conceding seven. The Italian club won their last UEFA Champions League match against Spanish opponents Atletico Madrid by a narrow scoreline of 1-0. AC Milan dominated the match with 63% of the ball possession and created 32 positional attacks. A total of 14 shots were attempted, and the team managed to hit the target five times. The above shot map shows that eight shots were attempted from inside the opposition’s penalty box.
Olivier Giroud, Samu Castillejo, Ante Rebic and Davide Calabria will miss the match for the home team due to injury. Rafael Leao and Pietro Pellegri’s muscle problems add them to AC Milan injury list. AC Milan have four different goal-scorers and will need more contributions from other players in case they want to qualify for the next round.
Liverpool have a perfect record in the competition and lead the group standings. The Reds have scored 15 goals and conceded five in the tournament so far, with an expected goal rate of 10.48. Jurgen Klopp’s men have attempted 82 shots and average 16 shots per match. They have managed to hit the target 38 times, and 16 shots on target have been attempted from outside the opposition’s penalty box. Liverpool players have attempted 126 passes into the opposition penalty box, delivering 69 successful passes.
Jurgen Klopp is expected to rest some of his senior players and rotate the squad. Roberto Firmino, Curtis Jones, and Harvey Elliott are out with injuries, and James Milner is suspended for this match. Joe Gomez and midfielder Naby Keita have returned from injury and could feature in this match.
Liverpool are the favorites going into this game. Klopp is not expected to name his strongest line-up, and this can open a door for the Italian club. AC Milan needs to win in case they want to qualify for the next round, but their qualification also depends on the other result in the group.
