Juventus v AC Milan | free Italian football tips

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Juventus v Milan in the Coppa Italia semi-final second leg on Friday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 8pm Friday

Best bet

Juventus to win & under 3.5 goals
1pt 5-4 Betway, Coral

Team news

Juventus
Gonzalo Higuain is unlikely to feature but Maurizio Sarri otherwise has a fully-fit squad to choose from.

Milan
Zlatan Ibrahimovic suffered an injury in training and is expected to miss out, while French full-back Theo Hernandez is suspended. Samu Castillejo and Leo Duarte are also sidelined.

Match preview

Football in Italy returns for the first time in three months and it doesn’t get much bigger as juggernauts Juventus host mighty Milan for a place in Wednesday’s Coppa Italia final.

Four months on from February’s 1-1 draw at the San Siro, Juve and Milan are back to finish what they started and a finely-poised Coppa Italia semi-final tie in Turin should ensure the eyes of the football world are fixed firmly on the country’s two most successful clubs.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s injury-time penalty cancelled out Ante Rebic's volley in the opening leg in Milan and it has put Juve, who had claimed the Coppa Italia in four consecutive seasons prior to Lazio’s win last year, in a commanding position to regain a trophy they have made their own.

Maurizio Sarri’s men have carried all before them on home turf this season, winning 17 of their 18 games in all competitions, and although there won’t be any fans in attendance there’s at least some evidence to suggest the Old Lady won’t be disadvantaged by playing behind closed doors.

In their final match before the three-month hiatus, Juve moved to the Serie A summit with a 2-0 Derby d'Italia triumph over Inter - a match played in an empty Allianz Stadium - and were utterly dominant, limiting the Nerazzurri to just one shot on goal.

Therefore, even when factoring in no crowd, it’s difficult to oppose a Juve side who have won their last seven meetings with Milan in Turin and are 27 points clear of them in the Serie A standings.

Juve recorded a 1-0 home league triumph over Milan in November and their defensive resoluteness can see them carve out another low-scoring victory.

The centre-back pairing of Leonardo Bonucci and Matthijs de Ligt have helped Juve keep clean sheets in nine of their 18 home games, with only five of those contests featuring four or more goals.

Milan have netted just 28 times in their 26 league games this season and are considerably weaker going forward following the injury to Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and suspension to marauding full-back Theo Hernandez.

That will add extra importance to the role of Rebic, who is Milan’s leading marksman with six goals, but there is considerably more firepower in the ranks of Juventus.

Ronaldo is showing few signs of slowing down despite turning 35 in February, failing to score in only three of his last 17 games, and the Portuguese talisman has excellent assistance in the form of Paulo Dybala, Douglas Costa and Aaron Ramsey.

No fans in attendance may make for a strange atmosphere at the Allianz Stadium but there should be nothing unfamiliar about the result, with Italy’s dominant force Juve taken to prevail in another low-scoring encounter.

Key stat

There have been three or fewer goals in 22 of Milan’s 29 competitive fixtures this season.

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