Milan visit the Allianz Stadium tonight for another chapter of their rivalry with Juventus, and the recent history between the sides has turned strangely quiet in front of goal.
The two clubs have met 230 times, with 89 wins for Juventus, 66 for Milan and 75 draws. Lately the draws have piled up, and the goals have not.
Four of the last five Serie A meetings between Juventus and Milan have finished goalless, including the two most recent. These teams have not drawn as many consecutive league games since 1973, when they managed four in a row, and they have never gone through a longer run of scoreless meetings in the competition.
The drought is particularly one-sided. Juventus have kept a clean sheet in each of their last six Serie A games against Milan, their best such run against any single opponent since nine against Palermo in 2016. From Milan's perspective, they have never gone longer without scoring against a single side in their Serie A history.
There is a more encouraging trend for the Rossoneri away from home. Milan are unbeaten in five of their last six Serie A trips to Juventus (two wins, three draws), keeping four clean sheets and conceding an average of just half a goal per game across that stretch. That followed nine straight away defeats in Turin, when they shipped two goals a game on average.
For Ruben Amorim, a result carries a personal milestone. After beating Torino and Venezia, he could become the fourth manager to win each of his first three Serie A games in charge of Milan, after Mario Sperone in 1952, Giuseppe Viani in 1956 and Luigi Bonizzoni in 1958.
Juventus arrive in similar form. Following 1-0 and 2-0 wins over Frosinone and Parma, they could win their first three league games for a second season running, and keep clean sheets in all three for the second consecutive campaign after doing so under Igor Tudor last term.
The shot profiles hint at how the game might unfold. No side has attempted more long-range efforts than Juventus in the opening two rounds, with 18, level with Sassuolo. Milan sit near the other end, with only Torino attempting fewer than their five, a figure they share with Monza.
Two individuals are worth watching. Nico González has been involved in three goals across four home games against Milan in Serie A, one goal and two assists, and after scoring against Parma he could net in consecutive league appearances for the first time since June 2024 with Fiorentina. Adrien Rabiot, who scored and assisted in the away win at Torino, could become the first non-Italian player in Serie A history to score in a Juventus-Milan fixture for both clubs, a feat managed in the last decade only by Manuel Locatelli and Leonardo Bonucci.
The pattern says one goal could decide this, and on recent evidence Milan will need to be the side that finally breaks it.