AC Milan will hope to get their first points on the board in the Europa League on Thursday night as they take on Red Bull Salzburg.

Milan lost their opening European fixture 2-0 at home against Benfica, and negativity has been in the air since the 1-1 draw with Sassuolo on Sunday too, so a result is needed in Austria to calm some of the doubts.

Salzburg are a team that Milan know, having faced them in the 2022-23 edition of the Champions League. Noah Okafor opened the scoring for Die Roten Bullen in the first group meeting, with Alexis Saelemaekers equalising in a 1-1 draw.

Olivier Giroud’s brace, Rade Krunic’s header and Junior Messias’s strike powered Stefano Pioli’s team to a 4-0 home win in the return fixture, which booked a place in the last-16. A lot has changed in the past four years, though.

Opposition insight on RB Salzburg

➤ Manager: Danny Röhl
➤ Form (all comps): W-D-W-W-D (most recent)
➤ Top scorer (all comps): Konate, Tabakovic – 4
➤ Most assists (all comps): Mazurek – 3
➤ Injuries & suspensions: Enrique Aguilar (thigh), Justin Omoregie (ankle), Nikolas Veratschnig (knee). Doubts: Tim Drexler (ill), Leandro Morgalla (ill), Damir Redzic (ankle), Christian Zawieschitzky (adductors).

There were big changes made by Red Bull Salzburg in the summer as they moved on from head coach Daniel Beichler following a disappointing campaign. They finished third in the Austrian Bundesliga, reached the cup semi-finals and exited the Europa League in the first phase.

The replacement they went for was Danny Röhl, someone with more of a past in the United Kingdom after his stints with Sheffield Wednesday and Rangers in the past three years.

What followed was a remarkably consistent summer window. Kevin Boma, Bartosz Mazurek, Haris Tabakovic, Filip Matijasevic, Nikolas Veratschnig, Dominik Schmid and Abubakr Barry all arrived for fees between €3-7m.

It effectively rebuilt the core of the team after some quite big sales. Centre-backs Joane Gadou and Jannik Schuster went to Dortmund and Brentford respectively for just under €20m. Winger Adam Daghim headed to Hoffenheim for €13m, and three midfielders left: Mads Bidstrup (10.5m, Lyon), Maurits Kjaergaard (€8m, Lille) and Bobby Clark (€8m, Derby).

Other departures meant that RB Salzburg ended the window with €97.5m in total transfer revenue, while their spending only amounted to €36.2m as they continued their trend of being a very well run club from a player trading point of view.

Röhl has started the season well on all fronts. Salzburg have won five of their opening eight league matches, scoring 18 goals and conceding just four. The highlights were back-to-back 4-1 and 5-1 wins over Austria Wien and Rapid Wien respectively, the latter of whom are currently the table toppers having won a game more.

In the cup, the Red Bull side beat SV Klöcher Bau Oberwart 7-1 in the first round and then St. Pölten 3-1 in the next round. Before winning their first Europa League game 1-0 away against Levski Sofia, they beat Pafos 4-3 and Mjällby 4-0 on aggregate to qualify. Die Roten Bullen have played 15 games this season, without defeat.

Salzburg’s official website gave their injury bulletin: “Enrique Aguilar (thigh), Justin Omoregie (ankle) and Nikolas Veratschnig (knee) are unavailable for this match.

Tim Drexler (ill), Leandro Morgalla (ill), Damir Redzic (ankle) and Christian Zawieschitzky (adductors) are doubts. Soumaila Diabate has returned to training following a long injury lay-off.”

The big dilemma seems to be whether Tabakovic or Karim Konate will lead the hosts’ attack, given that they are both on four goals in all competitions.

Röhl’s trademark is an intense 4-2-3-1, which is expected to feature Schmid and Lainer at full-back, the impressive Mazurek in the double pivot, then Baidoo, Kitano and Vertessen at the attacking trio behind the centre-forward.

Predicted Salzburg XI (4-2-3-1): Zawieschitzky; Lainer, Boma, Drexler, Schmid; Mazurek, Barry; Baidoo, Kitano, Vertessen; Konate.