Cagliari vs AC Milan

Unipol Domus forms the backdrop for a lopsided Serie A encounter between hot relegation candidates Cagliari and title-bidding AC Milan.

Veteran manager Claudio Ranieri has urged his Cagliari players to step up their relatively slow adjustment to Serie A following a 2-0 defeat at Atalanta last weekend. Ominously for the ‘Sardinians,’ they’re winless after the opening five league rounds (D2, L3), as they were in 2021/22 when they suffered relegation to Serie B. What’s worse, they have just one Serie A goal to their name this term, which is six fewer than they had in that fateful campaign. Yet to score at Unipol Domus this season (D1, L1), the hosts’ chances of getting off the mark here are far-fetched after failing to get on the scoresheet in six of their last seven top-flight meetings with Milan (D1, L6). That’s not to mention they’ve garnered just three shots on target in their opening two home league outings.

On the other hand, Milan bounced back from their notorious Derby della Madonnina fiasco with a narrow 1-0 home triumph over Hellas Verona at the weekend, making it four wins in the opening five rounds. After a leaky three-game sequence where they failed to keep a clean sheet, ‘I Rossoneri’ have racked up back-to-back shutouts, including a scoreless home draw against Newcastle United in their opening Champions League fixture. That bodes well for the visitors’ bid to post a fourth consecutive Serie A victory at Cagliari ‘to nil’ and maintain their resurgence after a 5-1 thumping at the hands of Inter. But Stefano Pioli’s formational shift from his usual 4-3-3 to a 3-4-3 has made Milan less potent in attack, netting precisely once in their last two league games.