A successful weekend in which they defeated Lazio 1-0 to keep the pressure on second-placed Juventus has AC Milan in better form ahead of their UEFA Europa League Round of 16 tie with Slavia Prague. The Friday night Serie A fixture allowed head coach Stefano Pioli to field his best available side for that game knowing they’d be well rested by the time this one comes around, and on the basis of how his side got to this stage, it could be a relief.
That’s because AC Milan haven’t won the away leg of a post-group stage UEFA tie since 2017/18, placing great importance on the home leg of their first ever meeting with Slavia Prague. In the absence of H2H history, the Italians could perhaps draw inspiration from their unbeaten record against Slavia’s crosstown rivals Sparta Prague (W6, D2), whilst more recently they have won seven of ten competitive home games (D2, L1) since being bundled out of the Champions League group stage.
Speaking of Sparta Prague, Slavia failed to defeat their crosstown rivals for the second time in five days, this time in a scoreless league derby that maintained their four-point deficit to Sparta at the top of the standings. For now, their attention turns back to their first appearance at this stage of a Europa League since 2020/21, when they made it all the way to the quarter-finals whilst also winning the Fortuna Liga title.
But there could be no country they’d wish to travel to less than Italy in search of securing a first leg advantage. Slavia have made eight competitive trips to Italy for UEFA action, taking on seven different clubs, and have come away with nothing more than a 1-1 draw to Inter in the 2019/20 Champions League group stage and seven defeats.
Players to watch: Rafael Leão could hold the key to Milan’s fortunes after recording second-half goals in both legs of their tie against Rennes. For the visitors, Mojmír Chytil scored in three successive league games in February and was one of four Slavia players to find the net in two of their six group stage matches.
Hot streak: Slavia Prague’s last six post-group stage UEFA knockout games saw both teams score and a total of over 3.5 goals.
