AC Milan will play the final game of their 2024-25 season on Saturday night as they take on already relegated Monza at San Siro.
The curtain will fall on Milan’s campaign in quite a sad way, after back-to-back defeats at the Stadio Olimpico really knocked the wind out of their sails and fully stamped out any slim hopes of securing a European spot.
Sergio Conceicao won’t even be present for what should be his last game in charge as he received a red card in the last round, while he did not do a press conference on the eve of the game either.
Team news
As mentioned, there is nothing to play for with regards to European qualification for 2025-26. In fact, all that remains is to try and leapfrog Fiorentina into eighth place which means a Coppa Italia game in August would be avoided.
A 1-0 Coppa Italia defeat against Bologna last Wednesday felt like the beginning of the end for the Conceicao era, and the red card he got during the final moments of the 3-1 league loss against Roma on Sunday night only compounded that feeling.
In addition to the suspension that Conceicao will serve, there will be no Santiago Gimenez for this game. He got a red card and a one-game ban after elbowing Gianluca Mancini, which VAR picked up on.
Preparations for the final game of the season got underway at Milanello on Tuesday. Theo Hernandez rejoined full training with the rest of the squad on Friday after the blow to his left thigh that caused him to miss the trip to the capital.
It is believed that Warren Bondo and Samuel Chukwueze could both return having also missed out against the Giallorossi, but it is a different story for Kyle Walker who is not yet at his best and might have already played his last game for the club.
As per reports, Conceicao is thinking of giving some playing time to those who could benefit most from it, including Francesco Camarda. With Milan Futuro having been relegated there is more availability, but the Primavera are in the Scudetto play-offs which take place in the coming days.
The major storyline is about the players for whom it could be their last San Siro appearance. The likes of Theo, Mike Maignan, Rafael Leao, Tijjani Reijnders, Christian Pulisic and more continue to be linked with exits after a dismal 2024-25 for the team, so there could be some farewells.
According to the latest, the big news is that Camarda will indeed be in the team from the first minute with the hope that he will also score his first goal in Serie A, and Davide Bartesaghi should get the nod at left wing-back.
Manchester City are pushing to have Reijnders available immediately for the Club World Cup but he is still focused on Milan. Against Monza the Dutchman will be a starter in a match that the fans hope will not be his last at San Siro, alongside Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Malick Thiaw, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic should get the nod in front of Marco Sportiello with Mike Maignan relegated to the bench. Conceicao seems inclined to deploy his protégé Joao Felix from the first minute again, with Rafael Leao benched, and Christian Pulisic completing the side.
Predicted Milan XI (3-4-3) per Gazzetta: Sportiello; Thiaw, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Jimenez, Reijnders, Loftus-Cheek, Bartesaghi; Pulisic, Camarda, Joao Felix.
Predicted Milan XI (3-4-3) per MilanNews: Sportiello; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Musah, Reijnders, Loftus-Cheek, Bartesaghi; Pulisic, Joao Felix/Camarda, Jovic.
The opponents
We went through the moves that Monza made over the summer in our preview of the meeting at the U-Power Stadium last November, as they looked to build on an impressive first season back in Serie A.
It would be fair to say that things have not gone to plan for Monza, who were relegated several games ago and currently sit on 18 points. They have won only three times in the league, with nine draws, 25 losses, just 28 goals scored and a whopping 67 against.
The three victories they did obtain came against Verona on October 21, Fiorentina on January 13 and Udinese on May 11, meaning they went months at a time without winning. Around that there are a lot of losses, with draws against Fiorentina, Inter and Roma the only highlights.
The Brianzoli have had two different head coaches this season across three spells, with Alessandro Nesta serving until 23 December, then Salvatore Bochetti until 10 February – another ex-Milan centre-back – before Nesta came back for another go.
There are many links between Milan and Monza, from the Berlusconi family to Adriano Galliani, from Nesta as coach to Kevin Zeroli in midfield, so to see them drop back to Serie B without much of a fight is what few fans wanted to see.
Monza are dealing with several injury doubts ahead of their season finale, with Nesta unlikely to take any risks. Defenders Armando Izzo and Danilo D’Ambrosio should miss out, as should midfield duo Roberto Gagliardini and Matteo Pessina, plus forward Omari Forson.
Predicted Monza XI (3-5-2): Pizzignacco; Pereira, Palacios, Carboni; Birindelli, Castrovilli, Bianco, Akpa-Akpro, Kyriakopoulos; Keita, Caprari.
Head to head
Milan have played against Monza just 16 times across all competitions in their 125-year history with 14 of those being wins and two being defeats, of which one came last season.
That particular game opened up a crisis for Milan as Matteo Pessina and Dany Mota put Monza 2-0 up at the U-Power Stadium, then Olivier Giroud and Christian Pulisic pulled it back to 2-2.
Warren Bondo and Lorenzo Colombo – the former now at Milan, the latter on loan from Milan at the time – scored late on to seal a memorable 4-2 home win.
Earlier this season, Tijjani Reijnders scored the only goal of the game, reacting well to a ricochet inside the box to secure a 1-0 victory for the Rossoneri.
Prediction
It feels like Milan have an obligation to put on a show for their fans and to try end the season well. Even if there is nothing to play for on paper, the youngsters that get a chance will be keen to impress, and we think Camarda will get his first ever senior goal.
Prediction: AC Milan 3-0 Monza
