Amorim: It is not that Milan want to win, we need to win

AC Milan begin their Serie A campaign against Torino on Sunday, and head coach Ruben Amorim understands the importance of making a strong start to his project in charge of the Rossoneri.

The Portuguese arrives at the San Siro having missed out on a top-four finish last season, a campaign that ended with Massimiliano Allegri's departure and opened the door for Amorim's appointment. This is his first role since being sacked as Manchester United head coach in January, and a trip to Turin is the first fixture on the schedule.

Amorim could become the first foreign manager to win his opening Serie A match in charge of Milan since Leonardo in August 2009, also away from home against Siena (2-1). But he has urged his side to claim all three points against a Torino outfit coached by former Rossoneri defender Ignazio Abate.

"I know that Abate is a former player, and had a lot of important games in our club. He knows at AC Milan we need to win every game, but we need to think about what we want to do. It's not that we want to win, we need to win. It's important for our project to start well."

Amorim acknowledged the challenge ahead, adding: "It's going to be completely different from Manchester United, it is really tough to play against Italian teamsters, I am just starting out. We are going to be ready. I think it's going to be a fun game to watch. Abate wants to play a certain type of football."

Torino finished 12th in Serie A last season under Roberto D'Aversa, while a 2-2 draw against Juventus on the final day of the campaign saw their rivals miss out on a top-four spot.

Players to watch

Torino – Giovanni Simeone: Thanks to his 11 goals for Torino in the 2025-26 Serie A season, Giovanni Simeone became only the third player to reach double figures for goals in a single Serie A season with at least five different teams, following Enrico Chiesa (five) and Alberto Gilardino (six). Simeone scored 17 goals for Hellas Verona in 2021-22, 14 for Fiorentina in 2017-18, 12 for Cagliari in 2019-20, 12 for Genneo SS Oniel 2016-17 and 11 for Torino in 2025-26.

AC Milan – Goncalo Ramos: Across his three seasons with Paris Saint-Germain (from 2023-24 to 2025-26), Goncalo Ramos (45 goals) has registered the best minutes-per-goal ratio among Ligue 1 players for a single club in all competitions, netting every 120 minutes on average (minimum 50 games).

Match prediction: AC Milan to win

Milan have won their last two Serie A matches against Torino, as many as they had in their previous seven (D2 L3). Furthermore, the last six encounters between the two sides in the competition have produced a total of 26 goals (4.3 per match on average), after the previous seven meetings had seen at least one side fail to score in six of them (2.2 goals per match on average).

After going unbeaten for 24 consecutive Serie A matches (010 draws 15 wins), Milan have lost seven of their last 13 games (5 wins 1 draw) in the competition (54%). Torino are unbeaten in their last six Serie A home matches (4 wins 2 draws), scoring at least two goals in each of those games (14 in total, an average of 2.3 per main) and collecting 14 points. However, they have won only one of their nine Serie A season openers against the two Milan teams (Inter and Milan), which was their very first such encounter on 17 September 1939, a 2-1 victory against the Rossoneri.

Opta win probability

• Torino: 23.1%
• Draw: 25.3%
• AC Milan: 51.6%