Preview: AC Milan vs. Cagliari - prediction, team news, lineups

Seeking successive wins to start the Serie A season, AC Milan host Cagliari at San Siro on Sunday evening.

While the Rossoneri edged out Sampdoria on the opening day, their visitors were held to a disappointing home draw.

Match preview

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Milan got off to a winning start in Serie A, as Brahim Diaz scored the only goal at Marassi helping his side to a 1-0 victory at Sampdoria.

Having seen Inter destroy Genoa at the weekend, they travelled to Genoa on Monday night in search of a positive result in their first competitive game without goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who departed for Ligue 1 earlier this summer.

New signing Mike Maignan - who came in the opposite direction, joining from French champions Lille - was kept busy by the Samp attack, but stood tall to the challenge and claimed a richly-deserved clean sheet on his debut.

Both Maignan's fellow Frenchman Olivier Giroud and Euro 2020 champion Alessandro Florenzi were also involved last time out - the former from the start and the latter making a brief cameo from the bench - as Stefano Pioli attempts to rejuvenate a squad which has faltered over the past eight months, following a golden 2020.

This week, they come up against opponents who they particularly enjoy encountering: Milan have not conceded a single goal in their last five Serie A matches against Cagliari - winning four - and have lost only three of the clubs' 39 past meetings at San Siro.

After the upcoming international break, there is a long-awaited return to the Champions League to look forward to for the Rossoneri - plus attractive fixtures against fellow top-four contenders Lazio and Juventus in the league.

First, though, they must focus on continuing their dominance of the Sardinian side, as they look to set the tone for a Scudetto challenge next spring.

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Cagliari also got their campaign underway on Monday night, as they welcomed Spezia to a sultry Sardegna Arena. Once again, the Isolani were indebted to captain Joao Pedro, who bagged a brace to salvage a point for the hosts in a 2-2 draw.

With his team trailing by two goals with half an hour to go, Cagliari's consistently excellent number 10 took charge of matters - netting a quickfire double between the 62nd and 67th minutes.

The versatile forward has now racked up a total of 43 league goals since 2018, perhaps surprisingly making him the Brazilian player to have scored the most times throughout Europe's top five leagues during that time.

Despite his considerable efforts, a lack of defensive resilience has ensured that Cagliari have finished 14th or below in each of the last four seasons. However, hopes of a top-half finish this term will surely rest on the outcome of games such as last week's, rather than those against the giants of Calcio.

As a measure of their inferiority in this fixture, they have lost more Serie A games against AC Milan than against any other side - 43 in all - and their last win against the Rossoneri came as long ago as May 2017 - losing six and drawing two since.

Team News

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Ahead of Cagliari's visit on Sunday, Stefano Pioli has no new injury concerns, with only two major absentees remaining sidelined this week.

Influential midfielder Franck Kessie suffered a muscle strain in training and is out until after the international period - Sandro Tonali should deputise again - while Zlatan Ibrahimovic continues his recovery from a serious knee injury.

Having made his debut from the bench at Sampdoria, summer signing Alessandro Florenzi will hope to usurp current captain Davide Calabria at right-back, while there is competition between Rade Krunic and fit-again Ismael Bennacer to partner Tonali in central midfield.

Up front, Rafael Leao is once more set to edge out Ante Rebic for a place on the left of an attacking triumvirate led by Olivier Giroud.

The visitors, meanwhile, will travel north without first-choice goalkeeper Alessio Cragno, who has been ruled out with a muscular injury for at least two weeks. Therefore, Serbian stopper Boris Radunovic will deputise at San Siro.

Both Charalampos Lykogiannis and Razvan Marin have fully recovered from calf and ankle injuries respectively and will be available for Leonardo Semplici to select on Sunday, and in attack, Leonardo Pavoletti is expected to see off Giovanni Simeone's claims to partner skipper Joao Pedro.

AC Milan possible starting lineup:
Maignan; Calabria, Kjaer, Tomori, Hernandez; Bennacer, Tonali; Saelemaekers, Diaz, Leao; Giroud

Cagliari possible starting lineup:
Radunovic; Ceppitelli, Godin, Carboni; Nandez, Marin, Strootman, Deiola, Dalbert; Pedro, Pavoletti

We say: AC Milan 1-0 Cagliari

A second one-goal win of the new season is on the cards for Milan, as they are poised to continue their longstanding supremacy over their Sardinian counterparts on Sunday.

If Fikayo Tomori and Simon Kjaer can keep Joao Pedro quiet, then Cagliari can offer little else in attack and are likely to concede at least once over the course of 90 minutes.