AC Milan vs Rennes Prediction: Visitors to continue strong away form in Europe

AC Milan take on Rennes at San Siro on Thursday evening (20:00) in the Europa League play-off round first leg.

After being unable to overcome the Champions League group of death with Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United, Milan will be desperate to continue their participation in Europe.

They will have an interesting battle on their hands, though, as Rennes were very impressive in the Europa League group stage as they won four of their six fixtures, and they do boast a strong away record in Europe (eight wins in 12).

Match Odds

Milan are the 4/6 favourites to take the advantage in the first leg. A draw can be backed at 3/1, while Rennes are 4/1 to continue their impressive away form in Europe.

Both teams to score is 4/5 and over 2.5 goals is the same odds.

Team News

The hosts are going to be without Davide Calabria, Pierre Kalulu and Fikayo Tomori due to injury.

Samu Chukwueze will be available after returning from Africa Cup of Nations duty.

Rennes have no fresh injury concerns heading into Thursday's clash.

Draw and both teams to score @ 4/1

With Rennes showing that they are a tough nut to crack on their travels in European competition, we can see them earning a draw at San Siro. The French outfit have players like Benjamin Bourigeaud, who is the club's leading scorer in Ligue 1 with six goals while he awaits his first in Europe this term.

Rennes are a very hard-working team, both in and out of possession. You don't always get that from this current AC Milan side and a slow start on home soil could spell trouble for them.

You get the sense that the visitors will be the more hungry of the two sides in this one, and while Milan have star quality to bail them out, we do think that Rennes will earn a hard-fought draw in this first leg.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek to score anytime @ 12/5

This is a bit of a left-field selection given that there are more fruitful goalscorers in Milan's ranks such as Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao, but they don't offer as much value as Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

The former Chelsea midfielder has been enjoying himself since switching to Italy and he has been getting regular game time with the Rossoneri.

In his last six Serie A outings, he has produced four goals and has been playing with such a confidence. We think that he might just be worth a punt to grab his first goal in Europe this campaign.