Milan to face tough examination at Bentegodi
In a fixture that has echoes of the 1990s, Hellas Verona host AC Milan on Sunday with the home side one point ahead of the visitors after two games. Can Hellas cause an upset at the Bentegodi? Have a read of our preview here:
Milan stutter out of the blocks
It was always going to take time for this Milan team to ‘gel’ for want of a better word but they do have a number of new signings. Marco Giampaolo’s first season at the helm he was given the backing of the board this summer to go out and spend big on players.
The list is substantial but the main headline-grabbers are Rafael Leão from Lille and Frank Kessie from Atalanta. The former is a Portuguese forward who is still only 20-years-old but has already played a big part in Lille’s success last season. He netted eight times in 24 Ligue 1 matches and Milan obviously saw enough to part with £32m for his services.
Kessie is another young talent who was extremely impressive during his loan spell with the club last season. It was made permanent this summer for a £22m and that appears good value for a man who netted seven times for the Rossoneri in Serie A in a fraught 2018-19.
There have been other new players in Rade Krunic from Empoli, Real Madrid defender Theo Hernandez and Ismael Bennacer also from Empoli. Now it is up to Giampaolo to get this talent group into a unit.
Will it be different this time for Hellas?
Verona won the Scudetto in 1985 against all the odds but, as a club, they have had a succession of owners who have not done well at running the team’s off the field affairs.
This led them to the depths of Serie C but after an 11-year absence, they returned to the top level in 2013. Since then they have been yo-yo-ing between A & B but will be hoping to have a sustained period of success, starting with survival under the guidance of Ivan Juric this season.
The Croatian coach’s biggest outlay this summer was to bring in Chievo forward Mariusz Stepinski for £4.7m while raiding the loan market for no less than 10 other players.
This new squad has started well with a draw and a win and they will be looking forward to the test of facing AC Milan on Sunday.
Hellas Verona v AC Milan betting tip
Verona have made a decent start to the season and will be confident of getting a result against the Rossoneri. After an opening day defeat, Marco Giampaolo’s side did just enough to beat Brescia but aren’t convincing anyone so backing double chance Verona or draw at odds of 13/10 is good value here.
