Ahead of the visit of AC Milan in next week’s VisitMalta Weekender, we look at the history of the famous Italian club, along with their current squad which includes some familiar faces...
The Blues host AC Milan on Sunday 10 August. Kick-off is at 3pm and tickets for the game, as well as the meeting with Bayer Leverkusen two days prior, are on general sale.
Here we find out more about Milan and what to expect when they come to Stamford Bridge…
Factfile
Full name: Associazione Calcio Milan
Country: Italy
City: Milan, Lombardy
Formation: 1899, as Milan Foot‑Ball and Cricket Club
Colours: Red and black
Stadium: San Siro
Nickname: Rossoneri, La Madonnina
Major honours: Champions League seven times (most recently 2007), Serie A 19 times (most recently 2021/22), Coppa Italia five times (most recently 2003), Cup Winners’ Cup twice (1968 and 1973), Club World Cup once (2007)
Head coach: Massimiliano Allegri
2024/25 league finish: 8th
Rivals: Inter Milan
2024/25
It was turbulent and underwhelming campaign for AC Milan, who finished eighth in Serie A and missed out on European football for this season. Head coach Paulo Fonseca was dismissed in December and his replacement, Sergio Conceicao, was relieved of his duties at the end of the season.
Milan lost the Coppa Italia final to Bologna and exited the Champions League in the knockout phase play-offs, beaten 2-1 on aggregate by Feyenoord. They did however win the Italian Super Cup with victory over rivals Inter Milan in Saudi Arabia.
Current squad
There are several familiar faces in the Milan squad. Christian Pulisic was their top goalscorer last term with 17 in all competitions, Fikayo Tomori was a regular in defence, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek featured 28 times. He scored in a friendly against Liverpool recently.
Milan have signed midfield maestro Luka Modric this summer. Other standout players include Portugal attacker Rafael Leao, former Brighton left-back Pervis Estupinan, and another ex-Blue, Alvaro Morata. He is on loan at Galatasaray, however.
Notable former players
Milan’s list of famous past players is a veritable who’s who of some of the greatest to have ever played the game: Paulo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Gianni Rivera, Alessandro Costacurta, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Dida, Rui Costa, Filippo Inzaghi, Kaka. We could go on!
There are several former Rossoneri greats who would later play for Chelsea, too, perhaps none greater than Ruud Gullit. We also had the pleasure of the services of Marcel Desailly, George Weah, Andriy Shevchenko and Thiago Silva. It is quite some crossover!