UCL preview: AC Milan vs. Feyenoord – Team news, opposition insight, stats and prediction

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·17 February 2025

UCL preview: AC Milan vs. Feyenoord – Team news, opposition insight, stats and prediction

AC Milan are in need of a second leg comeback when they welcome Feyenoord to San Siro for their Champions League play-off round tie.

In the first leg back at De Kuip, the only goal of the game came in the opening three minutes through Igor Paixao and it means that Milan will need to come from behind to progress for the first time since 2007.

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The Rossoneri were simply not at the races in Rotterdam and failed to break down their resilient hosts, something that Zlatan Ibrahimovic – standing in for Sergio Conceicao – insisted must change in the second leg during his pre-match press conference.

Game date: Tuesday, February 18 Kick-off time: 18:45 (CET) Venue: San Siro Referee: Szymon Marciniak (VAR: Dingert)

Team news

It has been a strange past couple of days for Sergio Conceicao, who was able to celebrate the 1-0 victory over Hellas Verona at San Siro only briefly before learning of some very sad news.

Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa – the legendary president of FC Porto and someone Conceicao knew incredibly closely – passed away on Saturday at the age of 87 after a battle with cancer.

The Portuguese coach jetted back to his home country for the funeral on Sunday and then returned to take training today, but it must have had an impact on both his mindset and the preparations for the game.

Conceicao still has some selection problems, but not as many as there were for the first leg when eight players were unavailable. As a reminder, UEFA regulations capping new signings being named in the squad at three mean Warren Bondo and Riccardo Sottil were not included. Alex Jimenez and Luka Jovic remain out too.

Image: AC Milan

In terms of injured players Alessandro Florenzi is on his way back but will not be ready any time soon, Emerson Royal will be out for two months at least and Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s return date continues to be pushed back.

The good news is that compared to the first leg Yunus Musah is back from suspension, so there will be the decision regarding whether to launch the ‘fab four’ of Santiago Gimenez, Joao Felix, Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao from minute one again or whether to use Musah instead of one of them for balance.

At present, the lineup is difficult to predict, and there has often been late changes to what has been predicted. However, it seems that there is going to be a middle ground attempted by Conceicao.

The defence stays unchanged from Conceicao’s favourites: Mike Maignan, Kyle Walker, Strahinja Pavlovic, Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez.

Then in midfield, it is again much of the same, however, in the 4-4-2 shape. Yunus Musah starts on the right, allowing some more flexibility formationally, with Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders in the middle. On the left, Rafael Leao will return from the start.

Leading the line, we will again see Joao Felix and Gimenez. The change in shape definitely leaves a lot to the wire, so it is possible we see the ‘fab four’ or just three of them once again.

Predicted Milan XI (4-4-2): Maignan; Walker, Pavlovic, Tomori, Theo; Musah, Fofana, Reijners, Leao; Gimenez, Felix.

The opponents

In our preview of the first leg we recapped the summer business that Feyenoord did to try and launch the post-Arne Slot era in the right way, and why it has not exactly gone to plan up to this point.

Brian Priske was sacked at the beginning of last week with Feyenoord sitting fifth in the league table, not only behind the runaway title challengers Ajax and PSV Eindhoven but also below FC Utrecht and AZ Alkmaar too.

The Dutch side confirmed on Tuesday that Pascal Bosschaart would ‘temporarily take over’ from Priske’s duties as the first team head coach, and his first game was the 1-0 win over Milan, Feyenoord’s first home Champions League knockout win since 1974.

Bosschaart has announced the list of players called up for the match at San Siro and the positive news is that Calvin Stengs – a player who was out of the previous game – is back training with the squad and is available.

That’s where the good news stops, though, because Quinten Timber, Facundo Gonzalez, Gernot Trauner, Ramiz Zerrouki, Inbeom Hwang, Ayase Ueda, Jordan Lotomba, Justin Bijlow, Bart Nieuwkoop and Chris-Kevin Nadje will not travel to Milan with the team.

Image: AC Milan

Finally, Quilindschy Hartman, Oussama Targhalline and Stéphano Carrilo are not in the UEFA squad list so will also be unable to make the trip, leaving Bosschaart with quite a limited squad to choose from.

From the first game,there are expected to be no changes in defence, which will please Leao as he will have another chance to test Read. This means Wellenreuther, Smal, Beelen and Hancko should once again start too.

Timber’s absence means Ivanusec should come into the lineup for the second leg in the captain’s place, though Milambo and Moder should remain. Leading the line, there will again just be one change, Carranza for Ueda – he will play through the middle with Paixao and Moussa on either side of him.

Predicted Feyenoord XI (4-3-3): Wellenreuther; Read, Beelen, Hancko, Smal; Milambo, Moder, Ivanusec; Moussa, Carranza, Paixao.

Head to head

AC Milan and Feyenoord will meet for just the fourth time in a competitive game, and prior to the first leg it had been over 55 years since the last time the sides met.

In the 1969-70 edition of the European Cup it was Nestor Combin’s goal at San Siro that gave Milan a first leg lead, but then Wim Jansen and Willem van Hanegem netted back at De Kuip to give the Dutchman a 2-1 aggregate win.

More generally speaking, Milan have played 28 times against teams from the Netherlands, with just 12 wins in that time, plus seven draws and nine losses.

Key facts and stats

➤ Milan have lost two of their three meetings with Feyenoord in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, although both of those defeats have come away. Their only home game against them was a 1-0 victory in November 1969 (first leg of a last 16 tie).

➤ Feyenoord have lost five of their six away games against Italian sides in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, only managing to avoid defeat in February 2000 v Lazio (a 2-1 win). Indeed, the only one of those six games to take place in the knockout stages was a 0-1 defeat to Milan in the 1969-70 campaign.

➤ Milan have failed to progress from five of their six UEFA Champions League ties when losing the first leg, with their only such progression coming in 2006-07 versus Manchester United (lost 2-3 in the first leg, won 3-0 in the second leg of the semi-finals).

➤ Feyenoord are looking to qualify for the last 16 in a European Cup/UEFA Champions League campaign for the first time since 1974-75, which was also the last season in which they managed to win both legs of a knockout tie in such competitions (7-0 and 4-1 v Coleraine in the first round).

➤ Milan have won each of their last three home games in the UEFA Champions League. The last time they won four in a row in the competition was in December 2007 (4), while the last time they won four in a row within the same Champions League campaign was in 2004-05 when they were runners-up (a run of six).

Ones to watch

Igor Paixao is, without a doubt, the main player to watch in this game, and it is a reason why Musah on the right is not too far-fetched of an idea. The winger dominated last time out, and he will do the same if given a chance.

David Hancko could also be really problematic again, and this is a worry. The central defender toyed with Gimenez last week, and if he is allowed to do the same at San Siro, it could be a long night.

Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

We start just there for Milan. Gimenez was left frustrated by his performance in Europe last week, and he must show better in this game. His record in Serie A so far is certainly positive, but the best players prove their worth on the biggest stages and the Rossoneri will hope the Mexican’s time in the limelight is tomorrow.

In addition to this, Rafael Leao needs to show more in this game. In the past few games, he has been left out for tactical reasons, so he needs to earn a spot moving forward. The left winger in a 4-4-2 could be the key player in this game, and the Portuguese must prove this much.

Prediction

Tomorrow has the marks to be a special night at San Siro, and Zlatan has already stated how much impact the fans will have on this game. However, the Dutch outfit will not make things easy, and it could be a struggle.

Whilst we think the Rossoneri could progress, it may not be in normal time and this is certainly a concern.

AC Milan 2-1 Feyenoord