Serie A preview: AC Milan vs. Bologna – Team news, opposition insight, stats and prediction
AC Milan return to San Siro on Wednesday night to take on Bologna, hoping for a third straight Serie A win.
Milan bounced back well from their defeat against Bournemouth in the Europa League by beating Udinese 2-0 on Sunday. Now, two home games in four days await Ruben Amorim’s side, with the derby to follow on Sunday. It is 180 minutes that will tell us a lot about the ambitions for the season.
Game date: Wednesday, October 28 Kick-off time: 18:30 (CET) Venue: San Siro Referee: Juan Luca Sacchi (VAR: Giua)
Team news
As mentioned, last week was a real mixed bag for Milan. They were comprehensively beaten in Bournemouth as Mike Maignan saw red on the south coast and the Rossoneri gave away two penalty kicks plus a free-kick that led to the third goal.
There was a need to bounce back on Sunday in Udine, and that is what the team did. Christian Pulisic scored early on and Omari Hutchinson got his first Milan goal in the second half to seal a relatively comfortable win against a struggling side.
Milan remain in a state of injury crisis, which actually worsened on Sunday as Ruben Loftus-Cheek became the latest to enter the treatment room. He tore his muscle at the Stadio Friuli, which will almost certainly see him miss over one month.
Adrien Rabiot, Diego Moreira and Mario Gila were all ruled out of the game having picked up minor issues. The hope is that all three can recover for the derby on Saturday, but they will miss this one as caution has prevailed.
Samuel Chukwueze, Matteo Gabbia, Alexis Saelemaekers and Pietro Terracciano remain absentees who will take a while longer to recover, so the depth available to Amorim has been very much eroded.
What was intriguing about the Udinese win was how the coach reinvented the line-up. Four natural centre-backs made up the back four (Fikayo Tomori, Koni De Winter, Strahinja Pavlovic and Sankhoun Diawara), with Davide Bartesaghi playing further forward on the left.
Although Amorim will be forced to ration minutes again, it seems the backline will be relatively unchanged. Mike Maignan, Koni De Winter and Strahinja Pavlovic are irreplaceable, even with a full squad available. Fikayo Tomori and Pervis Estupinan, though, are not seen in the same regard, yet both will start here.
Yunus Musah and Ardon Jashari will start in the midfield pivot and have a huge opportunity to prove themselves as a midfield for the future, especially now Alex Scott seems unattainable.
Omari Hutchinson will start a third game in a row on the right of a front three, with Davide Bartesaghi starting on the left once again. In the middle, Christian Pulisic will hope to add reason to his renewal with another strong performance. Finally, Alphadjo Cisse is expected to start up front.
Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Tomori, De Winter, Pavlovic, Estupinan; Musah, Jashari; Hutchinson, Pulisic, Bartesaghi; Cisse.
Predicted bench: Torriani, Bouyer, Vladimirov, M. Cissé, Vos, Perera, Diawara, F. Terracciano, Modric Comotto, Ossola, Menon, Camarda, Ramos.
Injuries & suspensions: Chukwueze, Gabbia, Gila, Moreira, Rabiot, Saelemaekers, P. Terracciano.
The opponents
It was a summer of big changes for Bologna, who saw Vincenzo Italiano depart as the head coach. In a somewhat surprising move he headed to Turkey, joining Besiktas, while Domenico Tedesco was the one who replaced him at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.
Bologna spent the bulk of their summer budget on midfielders Mikel Amondarain (€10m, from Estudiantes), Tommaso Pobega (€7m, loan made permanent from Milan) and striker Jay Enem (€6m, from Red Star).
They also signed full-back Rahim Alhassane from Real Oviedo for €3.5 and they welcomed winger Samuel Mbangula, centre-back Arthur Theate and striker Artem Dovbyk on loan deals. Matteo Darmian also joined on a free.
There were some big sales, too. Santiago Castro headed to Roma for €30m, Jhon Lucumi went to Juventus for €20m, Giovanni Fabbian was bought by Fiorentina for €13m and Jonathan Rowe headed to Atalanta on an initial loan that will net them €40m next summer.
After finishing eighth in 2025-26, Bologna were probably hoping for another campaign of challenging for the European spots. However, Tedesco would last just four games, being sacked after defeats to Lazio, Atalanta and Bologna, all 1-0s.
Raffaele Palladino was the man chosen to take over from him, and things have picked up a bit. A draw against Torino was followed by wins against Lecce and Cagliari, either side of a defeat to Inter in which they were the better team for the first half.
There are three players at the moment who Palladino will definitely be without for Wednesday’s game. Riccardo Orsolini, Roberto Piccoli and Emil Holm are all absent, while Enem will be evaluated closer to the match.
After that win against Cagliari, there are very few changes that need to be made, given the dominant fashion of the victory.
In defence, a clean sheet means there will be no selection headaches. Skorupski, Darmian, Casale and Theate will remain as the back three. Flanking them will be Zortea and former Rossoneri target Juan Miranda.
The midfield pivot is another point of familiarity, with Tommaso Pobega returning to San Siro alongside Lewis Ferguson, who has been linked to the club several times in recent years.
In attack, one change from the weekend is expected. Odgaard and Bernadeschi will retain their spots, but Cambiaghi will be replaced by former Juventus man, Mbangula, who’ll complete the front three.
Predicted Bologna XI (3-4-3): Skorupski; Darmian, Casale, Theate; Zortea, Pobega, Ferguson, Miranda; Bernardeschi, Odgaard, Mbangula.
Predicted bench: Pessina, Vitik, Happonen, Helland, De Silvestri, Heggem, Alhassane, Amondarain, Moro, El Azzouzi, Libra, Enem, Cambiaghi, Dovbyk.
Injuries & suspensions: Orsolini, Piccoli, Holm, Enem.
Head to head
Wednesday’s encounter will be the 192s played between the two sides, with Milan having the edge historically, winning 90 of them. The Rossoblu have racked up 54 wins, whilst the spoils have been shared 47 times.
In 2024-25, it was Bologna who were left smiling, winning their home game and also the Coppa Italia final. Last season the Rossoneri got some revenge by doing the double, winning 1-0 at San Siro with Modric scoring, and 3-0 away as Loftus-Cheek, Nkunku and Rabiot bagged.
Key stats and facts
➤ AC Milan have lost only one of their last 21 Serie A matches against Bologna (1-2 on February 27, 2025 – W16 D4), winning the three most recent ones.
Furthermore, after the 1-0 on September 14, 2025 and the 3-0 on February 3, the Rossoneri could win three consecutive clean sheets against the Rossoblu in the league for only the second time in their history, after the three between May 2016 and May 2017.
➤ Milan are unbeaten in their last 10 home matches against Bologna in Serie A (W8 D2), their last home defeat dating back to January 6, 2016 (0-1 with a goal from Emanuele Giaccherini). Since 2016-17, Bologna are one of two teams against whom the Rossoneri have played at least the same number of home matches without losing in the league, the other being Torino (W7 D3).
➤ After victories against Atalanta (3-2) and Udinese (2-0), AC Milan could win three Serie A matches in a row for the first time in 2026; this hasn’t happened to the Rossoneri since November-December 2025 (against Inter, Lazio, and Torino in that case).
➤ Milan have won their first three home games of this Serie A season and could win four of their first four home games of the season for only the fifth time in the three points for a win era (since 1994/95), after 2021-22, 2005-06, 2002-03 and 1995-96.
➤ After the 2-0 against Cagliari, Bologna could keep two consecutive Serie A clean sheets for only the second time in 2026, after the two clean sheets between February and March (1-0 against Udinese and Pisa in that case).
➤ Raffaele Palladino could become only the third manager to win each of his first three Serie A away games in charge of Bologna, after József Violak (between September and October 1946) and Gyorgy Sarosi (between November and December 1957).
➤ Milan has taken the fewest corners of any team this season: just 25 (just over three per game); furthermore, of the 16 that ended up inside the opponent’s penalty area (also a league record), only six were converted by the Rossoneri (only Torino did worse with four, and Fiorentina also had six).
➤ Despite having the fifth most sterile attack in the league (eight goals scored in eight games, less only than Parma, Cagliari, Genoa and Venezia), Bologna is the team with the highest number of players who have touched the ball at least once in the opponent’s penalty area in the current tournament: 24, seven more than Milan (17), second to last in this ranking behind only Genoa (16 players).
➤ Christian Pulisic has been involved in four goals (2G+2A) in his last seven Serie A matches: as many as in his previous 20 top-flight appearances (3G+1A). Since making his Serie A debut with AC Milan in 2023-24, the American is the only player to have scored at least 30 goals and provided at least 20 assists (55 – 33G+22A) in the tournament.
➤ Federico Bernardeschi, who is the only Bologna player to have scored more than one goal in this Serie A season (two), could find the net in two consecutive matches in the tournament for only the second time in his career, after November 2016 (when he was playing for Fiorentina in that case).
Ones to watch
It starts with a more serious one to watch, and Ardon Jashari needs to start proving himself. After Milan spent last summer trying to sign him, he’s done little to repay that faith. This season, it’s not been much different, but he’s getting consistent minutes and this will be a chance to prove that they’re right to be given to him and not someone else.
On a brighter note, Omari Hutchinson is expected to make a third consecutive start and after his goal at the weekend, he could create a discussion about his role moving forward. The Englishman showed instinct at the weekend, but it cannot be a one-off.
Pobega is an easy selection for the first one to watch in the visitors’ team. His complete departure from the Diavolo was confirmed in the summer after a series of loans; now it’ll be a chance to see whether parting was the wrong decision.
Then, Juan Miranda’s impact on the game could be decisive. He’s been Bologna’s biggest threat so far this season and against a makeshift right-side, he could threaten a Milan backline which boasts one of the best records in the league.
Prediction
Bologna have been a mixed bag in recent weeks, and their most recent win against Cagliari shouldn’t be taken for granted. Nevertheless, they have lost to every ‘typical’ European chaser so far this season; Milan cannot break that trend.
Milan 2-1 Bologna
