Although Milan won the Supercoppa Italiana and made it to the Coppa Italia final, their 2024-25 season was well below expectations, and now they’re looking ahead to rebuild.
It was a chaotic year for the Rossoneri, who ended up firing two Portuguese managers—Paulo Fonseca and then Sergio Conceicao—after finishing a disappointing eighth in Serie A.
Despite a spectacular Supercoppa win at the start of 2025, Milan crashed out of the Champions League against Feyenoord, then seemed to lose motivation in the league and suffered a lackluster defeat in the Coppa Italia final.
To steady things, Milan brought back Massimiliano Allegri, the coach who led them to the 2011 Scudetto, and added Real Madrid legend Luka Modric to the squad to help influence the team on the pitch.
During their pre-season, Milan played friendlies in the Far East against Liverpool and Arsenal, followed by a 9-0 thrashing of Perth Glory. They wrapped up the pre-season with another pair of games against Premier League teams, drawing with Leeds and losing to Chelsea.
After a busy summer transfer window, Allegri’s first competitive game in his return came in the Coppa Italia. Since Milan didn’t finish high enough in Serie A last season, they had to start in the early rounds. They beat Bari last week with goals from makeshift forwards Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic. But with fans growing restless, Milan will need to show a lot more improvement to win them back.
As for Cremonese, they managed two draws against Milan during the 2022-23 Serie A season, but historically they’ve struggled on the road against their Lombardy neighbors, picking up just one point from eight away matches so far.
They’ve also never won on the opening day of a Serie A season, suffering eight straight defeats. Last week, Cremonese played in the Coppa Italia but were knocked out early on penalties by Palermo.
Promoted through the Serie B playoffs last year after losing in the final the previous season, Cremonese secured their return to the top flight by beating Spezia in June. After a goalless first leg, they stormed to a 3-0 lead away but conceded two late goals, making the finish nervy — still, they won 3-2 on aggregate.
Despite this success, the club decided to change head coaches, with Giovanni Stroppa leaving and Davide Nicola taking over at Stadio Zini. Nicola has a strong record of saving teams from relegation, but this could be his toughest challenge yet.
After a summer full of major changes and possibly more to come Milan will be considering all their new signings for this weekend’s game.
Among the arrivals are last season’s Belgian Pro League Player of the Season, Ardon Jashari, along with Pervis Estupinan and Samuele Ricci, who joined Luka Modric at the club earlier. More recently, defenders Koni De Winter and Zachary Athekame have also signed on.
On the flip side, some key players have left. Midfielders Tijjani Reijnders and Theo Hernandez have moved on, as have center-back Malick Thiaw and several forwards, including Alvaro Morata, Luka Jovic, and loanee Tammy Abraham. Noah Okafor is also set to join Leeds United.
With Rafael Leao out injured, coach Max Allegri might turn to Santiago Gimenez and Christian Pulisic to lead the attack. Since joining Milan in 2023, Pulisic has impressed with 33 goals and 20 assists in 100 appearances across all competitions.
Over at Cremonese, they’re set to bring in experienced striker Antonio Sanabria, but their standout forward remains Jari Vandeputte. In fact, across Europe’s top five leagues and their second divisions, only Mohamed Salah has matched his impressive total of 28 assists since the start of the 2023-24 season.
Milan’s loanees Filippo Terracciano and Warren Bondo could both feature as well.
INURIES & SUSPENSIONS
Amid a summer of major changes with more still possible Milan’s many new signings will all be in contention for this weekend’s game.
Last season’s Belgian Pro League Player of the Season, Ardon Jashari, along with Pervis Estupinan and Samuele Ricci, joined Luka Modric at the club earlier this summer. More recently, defenders Koni De Winter and Zachary Athekame have also signed.
On the other hand, several key players have left, including midfielders Tijjani Reijnders and Theo Hernandez, centre-back Malick Thiaw, and forwards Alvaro Morata, Luka Jovic, and loanee Tammy Abraham. Noah Okafor is also set to move to Leeds United.
With Rafael Leao sidelined by injury, coach Max Allegri may turn to Santiago Gimenez and Christian Pulisic to lead the attack. Since joining Milan in 2023, Pulisic has scored 33 goals and provided 20 assists in 100 appearances across all competitions.
Meanwhile, Cremonese are close to signing experienced striker Antonio Sanabria. However, their standout forward remains Jari Vandeputte — across Europe’s top five leagues and their second tiers, only Mohamed Salah matches his 28 assists since the start of the 2023-24 season.
Milan loanees Filippo Terracciano and Warren Bondo could both make a swift return to San Siro, but Mattia Valoti, Franco Vazquez, and Tommaso Barbieri will miss out due to suspension.
POSSIBLE LINE-UPS
AC Milan possible starting lineup:
Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Jashari, Ricci, Modric, Estupinan; Pulisic, Gimenez
Cremonese possible starting lineup:
Audero; Terracciano, Baschirotto, Bianchetti; Zerbin, Grassi, Bondo, Vandeputte, Pezzella; Bonazzoli, De Luca
EXPERT PREDICTION
AC Milan 3-0 Cremonese
