AC Milan v Rennes

AC Milan vs Rennes Preview

AC Milan picked up a fourth win in five games on the weekend in Serie A and what a win it was as the hosts registered a 1-0 home win against Napoli to remain in third place in the Italian top flight table, while Rennes collected an eighth win on the trot in all competitions when they recorded a 1-0 win away from home at Le Havre in the French Ligue 1.

Both teams therefore have valid claims over claiming a vital win in this 1st leg tie at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza but AC Milan have been handed just the one defeat within their previous 12 games in all competitions and having picked up nine wins in the process along with holding home advantage on Thursday night, AC Milan look to be a tough customer for their French counterparts.

The Italian hosts have picked up five of these nine wins on home soil at their Stadio Giuseppe Meazza by way of victories over Monza, Sassuolo, Cagliari, Roma and Napoli respectively while results overall at home have been pretty solid as well.

Stefan Pioli's side have won eight out of their last 11 home games in all competitions and the hosts will be hoping they can make home advantage count here on Thursday night as well, as they look to make amends for dropping out of the Champions League.

Rennes have also produced an impressive sequence of results in the past few months as the French visitors have accumulated eight wins on the trot heading into this 1st leg tie in Milan and the French side have registered five of these eight victories on their travels with wins achieved at Clermont, Guingamp, Lyon, Sochaux and Le Havre respectively.

Earlier, Rennes had finished runners-up just a point behind Group F winners, Villarreal, in the group stage of the Europa League as the visitors had picked up four wins within their six group games which saw Rennes claim important home and away wins against Maccabi Haifa and Panathinaikos.

The bigger picture shows Rennes have managed to capture just four wins out of their last 10 ties overall in this competition though while also slipping to four defeats as well, so this could be a tricky outing for Julien Stephan's side as they seek out a positive result to take with them back to France for the return leg.

AC Milan v Rennes Verdict

AC Milan and Rennes have never met before in any competitive encounter but the Italian hosts have lost just twice in their last 13 matches overall in the Europa League whilst collecting seven wins and Pioli's side look to possess the greater experience at this level than their French visitors.

Therefore, our main bet will be AC Milan win @ 1.66

Other side bets worth considering:

AC Milan win & Over 2.5 goals @ 2.60

Correct Score: AC Milan 2-1 @ 8.50