Dinamo Zagreb – Milan

Croats will be able to resist in the first half

At first glance, Zagreb will be facing teams from different football worlds. The Italian champions automatically qualify for the Champions League group stage, while the Croatian champions have struggled to make it through the qualifiers. With two rounds to go before the group stage, both teams have the same number of points - four each. Victory in the upcoming encounter, if not to place the winner in second place in quartet E, then it will certainly equalize with the club in that position. Interestingly, if the opponents are tied on points before the encounter, bookmakers would expect Dynamo to reach the Champions League playoffs at the odds of 15.0, while the Milan side's chances of making it 30 times as high, 1.50. The Croatian club started the group stage with a victory over Chelsea. That game will be remembered for the competent defense of Dynamo, as well as Orsic and his team's quick counterattacking moves. In the domestic league, Dinamo Zagreb have no rivals. In 13 rounds, the team have lost only four points, and their average performance was three goals per game. Milan continue to suffer from a high number of injured players. This was one of the key factors that contributed to the Red-Blacks' two 0-5 defeats to Chelsea. Calabria, Magnan, Salemakers, Florenzi and the suspended Tomori will be unavailable at the Maximir. Since the start of October, AC Milan have won four Serie A games against bottom half of the table, including runners-up Juventus. The teams' roles in this Zagreb encounter are clear before the game begins. Dinamo will employ exactly the same tactics that brought success against Chelsea. Milan will try to methodically undermine the opponent's defence and expect to be the first to score. In the encounter between the rivals at the San Siro, they did so only from the penalty spot in the 45th minute. The Milan players' class is higher, but we are betting that Dynamo will be able to contain the visitors in the first half.