DUELS AT "BLUENERGY" MILAN STRUGGLES WITH: TAMMY ABRAHAM AIMS FOR PLATT'S RECORD

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Udinese – Milan

April 11th, 2025, 8:45 PM

Friday evening will offer one of the traditional duels of Italian Serie A, when Udinese and AC Milan face each other. Bianconeri will reach a significant milestone against Rossoneri - they will play their 100th match against them in the highest Italian competition. Milan will thus become only the fourth team against which Udinese will play at least one hundred top-flight duels, after Juventus (101), Roma (102), and Inter (104).

Interestingly, Milan is the opponent with which Udinese has drawn most often - 36 times (with 19 wins and 44 losses). However, the last draw dates back to February 2022 (1-1, when Rafael Leão scored for Rossoneri and Destiny Udogie for Bianconeri).

The Friulians are experiencing a results crisis. After a six-match unbeaten run (4 wins, 2 draws), Coach Cannavaro's men have lost three league matches in a row. If they fail against Milan as well, they would record four consecutive defeats in a single Serie A season for the first time since the end of the 2022/23 season.

Milan also has its problems, especially in the defensive phase. Rossoneri have conceded exactly two goals in each of their last four away league matches (1 win, 3 draws). Only five times in history has this big club conceded at least two goals in five consecutive away matches, most recently between August and October 2013 under the leadership of Massimiliano Allegri.

The beginning of matches is particularly alarming. Milan have conceded eight goals in the first 10 minutes of play in this Serie A season, including both goals in the last round against Fiorentina. The last time Rossoneri received more goals in this time period in a single Serie A season was in 1948/49 (12).

Since the arrival of coach Sérgio Conceição at the beginning of 2025, Milan has become, along with Empoli, Parma, and Monza, the team that has most often trailed during matches (10 times). However, the Milanese often manage to turn around adverse developments - only Bologna has gained more points (16) after falling behind than Rossoneri (13).

Udinese is among the teams that rely most on aerial play. In this Serie A season, only Inter (130) and Atalanta (121) have recorded more successful crosses from open play than Bianconeri (110, the same as Bologna). The Friulians also have the third-highest number of headed goals (9), again behind Inter (13) and Atalanta (11). On the other hand, Milan has conceded only three headed goals, more than just Udinese (1) and Napoli (0).

Kingsley Ehizibue scored his second (and so far last) goal in Serie A against Milan at the Bluenergy Stadium on March 18, 2023. Since then, the Dutch defender is the player who has had the most shots (37) and the most touches in the opponent's penalty area (76) without scoring a goal in Serie A (in 57 matches).

English striker Tammy Abraham reached a total of 29 goals in Serie A with his goal against Fiorentina. Only two English footballers have scored more goals in the Italian top flight than the AC Milan forward – David Platt (31) and Gerald Hitchens (59). In addition, he could score in three consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time since playing in Italy.

We thank OPTA for providing the statistical data.

Photo: source XYZ