AC MILAN v TORINO: MATCH PREVIEW

The first in a long journey. San Siro, after the taster of the Trofeo Berlusconi, the Rossoneri are back for the first game of Serie A 2024/25. It will be Coach Fonseca's first official game in charge after a positive and interesting pre-season. We will face Torino who have changed their coach just like us: Paolo Vanoli leads the Granata. The teams will be out there at 20:45 CEST to kick off the season, here is our Match Preview.

LATEST FROM MILANELLO
The Rossoneri are back to their full numbers after the US tour and have been working together for the last week, also playing the Trofeo Berlusconi against Monza which marked the first outing for two of the three latest arrivals, Morata and Pavlović. The squad is doing well and is ready for this first outing, Pulisic is back too after missing out on the game on August 13 due to a knock to his ankle. Chris is back in the game and available for Coach Fonseca, who will have to make some decisions for the first starting XI of the season, a probable 4-2-3-1. There will be over 70,000 spectators at San Siro, the Rossoneri are ready to begin.

The main takeaways from Fonseca's press conference: "We want to show our identity from the very first game: we have prepared well, we are ready, and we want to win. The squad is very strong, they have great faith and ambition. I didn't expect the group to pick up our new football philosophy so quickly. We work and play to aim for the top, we want to fight for the Scudetto".

LATEST FROM TORINO
New Toro Coach, Paolo Vanoli, should come to San Siro with a 3-5-2 ready to follow on from his season debut in the Coppa Italia, a 2-0 win over Cosenza. The Granata set-up is largely the same as last season, but with a big difference in defence: captain Alessandro Buongiorno has left for Napoli and Saúl Coco has come from Las Palmas. Up front there is another new option, Ché Adams, the Scotland international who arrived from Southampton and could start with Sanabria alongside the new captain Zapata.

In his press conference, Vanoli said: "We will face a side built to fight for the Scudetto. We need to be realistic and aim to be both compact and handle individual moments well in the game".

PRE-MATCH STATS

• AC Milan remains unbeaten in the last 28 home games against Torino in Serie A (20W, 8D) and in general, only against Hellas Verona (32) and Lazio (29) have the Rossoneri picked up a longer streak of positive home results in the league.
• AC Milan won each of their last games on Matchday 1 in Serie A and the last time that they registered a longer streak of day-one wins was between 1987 and 1996 (10).
• Álvaro Morata has scored five goals in his last seven season openers in the top five European leagues. One of the Spaniard's six braces in Serie A came against Torino, whilst he was at Juventus, on 20 March 2016.

WHERE TO WATCH AC MILAN v TORINO
In Italy, the game will be live on DAZN and Sky. To watch AC Milan v Torino from a different country, please consult the 'AC Milan on TV' page. Follow Matchday on Milan TV: the live will begin at 20:00 CEST until kick-off with the game being followed by the interviews and press conference from Fonseca. Don't miss out on our coverage via acmilan.com, the AC Milan Official App, our official social media channels and WhatsApp.

LATEST FROM SERIE A
Maresca will referee the game with assistants Scatragli and Moro, fourth official Giua, Doveri on VAR duty and Di Bello on AVAR. Maresca has officiated 15 games for the Rossoneri (9W, 3D, 2L), the latest being the 2-1 win at the Franchi in Florence on 30 March 2024.

Ready, set, go! Genoa v Inter kicks off the 2024/25 season on Saturday 17 August at 18:30 CEST. From the Marassi to the Tardini, Parma v Fiorentina will begin at the same time. Then it's to San Siro for AC Milan v Torino and the Castellani for Empoli v Monza, both at 20:45 CEST. Sunday's games begin at 18:30 CEST with Bologna v Udinese and Hellas Verona v Napoli. At 20:45 CEST, it'll be Cagliari v Roma and Lazio v Venezia. Matchday 1 will end on Monday with Lecce v Atalanta at 18:30 CEST and Juventus v Como at 20:45 CEST.

The AC Milan PUMA Home Kit and Away Kit for 2024/25 are available: buy them now!