AC Milan's struggles continue, and Nigerian winger Samuel Chukwueze finds himself on the periphery under new manager Sergio Conceição.
The Rossoneri endured a disastrous week, crashing out of the Champions League against Feyenoord before suffering a 2-1 league defeat to Torino. Chukwueze, who has seen limited playing time since Conceição's arrival, featured only briefly in the latter loss.
Milan will now aim to stop the rot against Bologna, a team that has been formidable at home this season. The Rossoblù suffered a rare setback in their last outing, falling 2-0 to Parma, but they remain a strong force in front of their home crowd.
Correct score prediction: Bologna vs AC Milan
Bologna’s home form gives them the edge. They have lost just once at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara all season, a 3-2 defeat to Hellas Verona despite being down to ten men.
AC Milan, by contrast, have struggled in away fixtures, losing five times on the road, including four defeats against teams in the top 11. With the hosts proving hard to break down and Milan lacking attacking fluency, a Bologna win or a draw seems the most likely outcome.
Prediction: Bologna 2-1 AC Milan
Chukwueze’s struggles and season so far
Since taking over at the start of the year, Conceição has frequently shuffled Milan’s attack, leaving Chukwueze on the fringes. The Nigerian forward has yet to start a league match under the Portuguese boss, featuring only in short substitute appearances.
He has played in 20 league games but started only nine, averaging just 40 minutes per match. Across these appearances, he has accumulated 799 minutes on the pitch, contributing two goals with an expected goals (xG) tally of 2.24. While his output in front of goal has been modest, he remains a lively presence in attack, averaging 25 touches per game.
Creatively, Chukwueze has managed to carve out three big chances and averages one key pass per match. His passing accuracy stands at an impressive 84%, completing 12.5 accurate passes per game. However, his dribbling success rate has been inconsistent, completing just one successful dribble per match at a 56% success rate.
While these numbers reflect his effort on both ends of the pitch, he will need to make a stronger impact if he hopes to cement a more significant role in Milan’s squad moving forward.
