AC Milan vs Tottenham Hotspur Predictions

• Milan have won just one of their last eight games, losing three of their last five by 3+ goals
• The Rossoneri have failed to score in nine of their last 14 knockout games in this competition
• Tottenham lost at Leicester on Saturday but they’ve won three of their last four games
• Milan lost 5-0 across two group clashes with Chelsea earlier this season

Two shaken sides

Both AC Milan and Tottenham return to Champions League action this week sweating over their chances of playing in the competition next season. The pair are fifth in their respective divisions and need a strong finish to the season to book a top-four place, but their recent form hasn’t exactly been encouraging.

While Milan ended a poor stretch with a win on Friday night, their 1-0 victory over Torino doesn’t exactly point to an immediate turnaround. They had gone seven games without a win before that, including a run of four straight defeats.

Meanwhile, Tottenham were beaten 4-1 at Leicester on Saturday to lose ground in the race for the Premier League’s top four. That loss ended a three-game winning streak for Spurs, but the nature of the defeat has to worry Antonio Conte ahead of his return to his homeland.

Home return can fix Conte’s European struggles

Conte has delivered domestic success throughout his career, but he’s never quite taken to European football in the same way. His Juventus and Inter Milan teams were dominant domestically but they can’t rise to the occasion in the Champions League. Even during his Chelsea spell, he struggled in this competition, but his return is the perfect opportunity to change things.

Conte has won eight of his last nine games as a manager against AC Milan, while he takes charge of a side which reached the Champions League final as recently as 2019. Meanwhile, Milan are relative novices on the European stage, despite their seven wins in this competition.

Milan are playing in their first knockout tie in this competition since 2014, when they were dumped out 5-1 on aggregate by Atletico Madrid. The Rossoneri have failed to score in nine of their last 14 matches in the knockout stages of this competition, so it’s hard to make a case for them in this one.

Spurs’ class to tell

This will be the fifth competitive meeting between Milan and Tottenham, with the English side unbeaten across each of the previous four (W2 D2). Spurs dumped Milan out of the competition in a memorable tie in 2011, but their positions in European football’s hierarchy have shifted since.

Milan’s return to post-Christmas Champions League action came thanks to edging out Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb to second place. They lost home and away to Chelsea – losing 5-0 across the two meetings. The Blues haven’t been close to Spurs domestically all season, so this should be a straightforward win for the visitors.

Milan’s recent form has been terrible, losing three of their last five by at least three goals. They aren’t playing well enough to close the clear gulf between these two, so side with Spurs in the first leg.

Given Milan’s recent comprehensive defeats and their issues scoring at this point in the competition, a 2-0 away win is my correct score prediction.

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