The Paulo Fonseca era commences on Saturday for Italian heavyweights AC Milan, who head to Austria to meet Rapid Vienna in their opening pre-season friendly.
On the other hand, their hosts have already played three non-competitive fixtures this summer, earning two victories and suffering one defeat.
Match preview
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While Stefano Pioli should leave San Siro with the utmost respect of the Rossoneri faithful - having taken Milan back to the top of the Calcio game with Serie A glory in the 2021-22 season - a shoddy sequence of results at the end of last season meant that change was inevitable.
Indeed, Milan won just one of their last seven Serie A fixtures - albeit while still finishing as runners-up to runaway champions Inter Milan - in addition to suffering a gut-wrenching Europa League quarter-final defeat to Roma and being knocked out of the Coppa Italia at the same stage.
After Pioli cleared out his locker, former Lille boss Paulo Fonseca moved his possessions into the office space, signing a three-year deal with the 2021-22 Italian champions after a personal endorsement from the Rossoneri's new advisor Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Ahead of their return to the Champions League - where they will bid to improve on last year's disappointing third-placed group ranking - Milan are yet to make their mark in a transfer market dominated by outgoings, having lost Charles De Ketelaere, Olivier Giroud and Rade Krunic thus far.
In addition, Liverpool cult hero Divock Origi has been ruthlessly axed from the first team and forced to train with the Under-23s as Milan prepare for a taxing friendly period, in which they will also take on Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona during a tour of the USA.
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While Milan are yet to test their mettle in a pre-season fixture this summer, Rapid Vienna will conclude their preparations for the new term on Saturday, having begun their friendly period early due to their participation in the Europa League qualifiers.
Robert Klauss's men kicked off their pre-season in astonishing fashion with an 11-0 dismantling of SC Herzogenburg, before being humbled in a 3-0 loss to Slavia Prague and appearing on course for defeat against Debreceni VSC.
However, despite finding themselves 2-1 down to the Hungarian outfit with 25 minutes to go, Rapid Vienna pulled off a terrific comeback to prevail 3-2 in their penultimate friendly of the summer, where Furkan Dursun scored the clincher in the 105th minute.
Once Saturday's tie is done and dusted, Klauss's side will be in Europa League second qualifying round action against either Llapi or Wisla Krakow, the two legs of which will take place either side of an Austrian Cup opener against Neusiedl on July 28.
The Green-Whites have been handed one of the most challenging maiden fixtures of the Austrian Bundesliga season, though, welcoming champions Sturm Graz - who ended Red Bull Salzburg's reign of dominance last term - to their Allianz Stadion home on August 4.
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Team News
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For his first unofficial game in charge of Milan, Fonseca will be without a wealth of players who took part in Euro 2024 and the Copa America, including Rafael Leao, Mike Maignan, Tijjani Reijnders, Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah, Noah Okafor, Luka Jovic and Theo Hernandez.
The Rossoneri are said to be closing in on the capture of Alvaro Morata from Atletico Madrid, but for the time being, Fonseca will have to lean on the young Marco Nasti, Luka Romero and Daniel Maldini as his offensive options.
However, Fikayo Tomori was once again snubbed by England for the Euros and is fit and raring to go, as is 19-year-old right-back Alex Gimenez, a new arrival from Real Madrid.
As for Rapid Vienna, Klauss did not witness any players pick up injuries in the dramatic win over Debreceni, although Bendeguz Bolla, Matthias Seidl and Niklas Hedl are all on a break following their Euros exploits.
The hosts are also dealing with a quintet of injury concerns, as Thierry Gale, Ismael Seydi and Bernhard Zimmermann are nursing serious knee issues, while defensive duo Benjamin Bockle and Jakob Scholler are sidelined too.
Rapid Vienna possible starting lineup:
Gartler; Oswald, Raux-Yao, Hofmann, Auer; Sattlberger, Grgic; Jansson, Sangare, Schaub; Burgstaller
AC Milan possible starting lineup:
Sportiello; Calabria, Tomori, Thiaw, Florenzi; Bennacer, Loftus-Cheek; Chukwueze, Maldini, Romero; Nasti
We say: Rapid Vienna 0-1 AC Milan
As so many of Milan's key attackers are yet to resume training with the Rossoneri, Fonseca's first match in charge should not be an all-action affair with goals aplenty, although they still have strong midfield and defensive foundations.
As a result, an injury-hit Rapid Vienna side may have trouble breaking through, and the visitors can strike once to get Fonseca off to a winning start.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
