An anticipated Italian-English confrontation
The sports fans are looking forward to the San Siro stadium, on Tuesday evening, for an anticipated Italian-English confrontation that will bring together the home team, Milan, and its guest, Newcastle United, in the opening matches of the group stage of the Champions League competition.
Below are striking numbers and statistics for the match:
Newcastle’s last “European” visit to Italy dates back to the 2006-2007 season, when it beat Palermo in the UEFA Cup 1-0, and before that it lost four matches on Italian soil.
Milan will be playing its twentieth season in the Champions League. Only Juventus participated more than the Italian team (23).
Milan has been eliminated from the group stage once in its last 14 participations (2021-2022 season).
Newcastle United will play its third season in the Champions League (1997-1998 – 2002-2003).
Newcastle missed the competition for 20 years, making it the longest absence for an English team from the tournament.
Newcastle is the first team to qualify for the group stage after losing the first three matches of the 2002-2003 season, and Atalanta did the same in the 2019-2020 season.
Milan won the last two matches in the group stage. If he wins over Newcastle, he will achieve a third successive victory in the group stage, and this has not happened since 2006 with coach Carlo Ancelotti.
