AC MILAN v FIORENTINA: MATCH PREVIEW

The stage is set at San Siro for the reigning Italian champions to play their last official match of an unforgettable 2022. The AC Milan fans are ready to spur Pioli's boys on to victory in the last push before a long worldwide break; today's opponents are Italiano's Fiorentina, who are looking to shorten the gap on the European qualification zone. In our Match Preview we delve into all the hot topics related to matchday 15 of Serie A. 

LATEST FROM MILANELLO
AC Milan will take to the field on Sunday with one goal: to win and make up for their performance away in Cremona and revive their claim to be Napoli's title challengers. The Rossoneri, who have won three in a row in Serie A at San Siro, will be relying on the home advantage as well as the return of Giroud and Hernández, who were absent through suspension against Cremonese and are fresh from their call-up to the French World Cup squad. Leão and Kalulu, out of the starting eleven in the Zini game, are vying for a starting spot, while Messias is not at his best and could be replaced by Krunić. Díaz and De Ketelaere, on the other hand, are competing for the last available place in the supporting trio behind the striker. Tonali and Bennacer should  return in the middle of the field. 

"Winning would mean a significant improvement in our position in the table with which we are currently not satisfied. We have quality and will to get ourselves back in the race, the championship is still long," said Coach Pioli in his press conference. "We are familiar with this Fiorentina side but it would be wrong to focus on our opponents, instead of our own game knowing that we can dictate our own performance, and usually when we do that we bring home a positive result. We have to show who we are."

LATEST FROM FIORENTINA
The Viola are on the up after a shaky start to the season, and in the last few weeks, Italiano's team has given the impression that they are finally in the right gear. In fact, they come to San Siro off the back of three consecutive victories in the league, which becomes five if we also consider the Conference League matches, a competition where the Tuscans have recently managed to progress to the knockout stage. Fiorentina have only lost one match out of nine played in the last month in all competitions, conceding a last-second goal against Inter in the nail-biting 4-3 loss in early October. Looking ahead to the San Siro match, Italiano should keep the same line-up that beat Salernitana in the midweek fixture, but maybe with a few changes, starting with the centre forward, where Jović could earn a starting spot in place of Cabral, with Kouamé and Ikoné on his flanks. Former Milanista Bonaventura is a candidate for a place in midfield, but competition from Barak and Duncan remains strong.

The coach of the Tuscan side expressed himself this way on the eve of the match: "I am happy with our progress, the character and pride of the boys has come out. I want to see this again on the pitch tomorrow against AC Milan, a match to approach with the right spirit. AC Milan is a team that has achieved great things, they are Italian champions. We have prepared for the match with the right attitude, it will be a good test for us".

LATEST FROM SERIE A
Refereeing the match against the Viola will be Simone Sozza from Seregno. The young official has refereed only once before with AC Milan, in the quarter-final of the Coppa Italia: a 4-0 for the Rossoneri against Lazio last season. He will be accompanied by assistants Mondin and Moro, along with fourth official Di Bello. Fabbri is on VAR, assisted by Longo.

Matchday 15 of Serie A opened with Empoli's 2-0 win over Cremonese in the Friday game and continued with three matches on Saturday: Napoli 3-2 Udinese, Sampdoria 0-2 Lecce and the Emilia Derby, Bologna 3-0 Sassuolo. The big match, Atalanta v Inter, opens the last Sunday games of 2022 at 12.30 CET, followed by Roma v Torino, Monza v Salernitana and Hellas Verona v Spezia at 15.00 CET. AC Milan v Fiorentina kicks off at 18.00 CET, and at 20.45 CET it's Juventus v Lazio.

The Serie A table as it stands: Napoli* 41; Lazio, AC Milan 30; Juventus 28; Atalanta, Inter 27; Roma 26; Udinese* 24; Torino 20; Fiorentina, Bologna* 19; Salernitana, Empoli* 17; Sassuolo* 16; Lecce* 15; Monza 13; Spezia 10; Cremonese* 7; Sampdoria* 6; Hellas Verona 5. (* = an extra game played)

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