Fernando Torres is tackled by Kwadwo Asamoah on Saturday.Milan coach Filippo Inzaghi fully expects his team to bounce back from their first defeat of the season at the weekend when they take on Empoli in Tuscany tonight.
The Rossoneri had beaten Lazio and Parma in their opening two games before falling 1-0 to Juventus at the San Siro on Saturday.
Inzaghi, who replaced Clarence Seedorf at the helm in the summer, was pleased with his team’s performance against the Italian champions.
“With the determination we showed against Juventus on Saturday we can go far,” Inzaghi said.
“We held Juve for 71 minutes and we played a very good game in defence.
“Despite the loss, we left that game with our heads held high.
“Now we turn our attention to the next game.
“We need to play a great match at Empoli in order to beat them.”
Inzaghi is set to hand Fernando Torres a start at the Carlo Castellani stadium.
The Spanish striker, who joined Milan on a two-year loan deal from Chelsea last month, made his Serie A debut against Juve when he came on as a second-half substitute.
Milan will be favourites to win against an Empoli side that is struggling to adapt to Italy’s top flight.
The promoted outfit collected their first point of the campaign in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Cesena. That result followed their 1-0 defeat to Roma and their 2-0 loss at Udinese in their Serie A opener.
“We should have taken three points at Cesena and instead we collected one,” a disappointed Empoli coach Maurizio Sarri said.
“We dominated but we had a five-minute black-out and in this competition you pay for that. The only consolation is that we finally scored.
“We know we face an arduous task to avoid the drop but we want to make life difficult for our rivals.”
The hosts will be without injured defender Lorenzo Tonelli but Empoli striker Massimo Maccarone could feature against the Rossoneri.
Maccarone, who netted 15 goals in 42 appearances to help Empoli gain promotion last term, is available after recovering from injury.
Serie A
Today – 20.45
Empoli vs Milan
Tomorrow – 20.45
Cagliari vs Torino
Fiorentina vs Sassuolo
Verona vs Genoa
Inter vs Atalanta
Juventus vs Cesena
Parma vs Roma
Napoli vs Palermo
Sampdoria vs Chievo
Thursday – 20.45
Lazio vs Udinese
Current standings
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Roma | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 9 |
| Juventus | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| Verona | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| Milan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| Udinese | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Inter | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 5 |
| Sampdoria | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Atalanta | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Genoa | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Fiorentina | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Cesena | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| Lazio | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Parma | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 3 |
| Chievo | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Napoli | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Palermo | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Sassuolo | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 2 |
| Cagliari | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| Empoli | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| Torino | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
Serie B
Played yesterday
Spezia vs Carpi - 1-2
Today – 20.30
Brescia vs Lanciano
Cittadella vs Pro Vercelli
Crotone vs Catania
Frosinone vs Avellino
Livorno vs Varese
Modena vs Perugia
Pescara vs Latina
Ternana vs Bologna
Trapani vs Entella
Vicenza vs Bari
Leading standings: Perugia 10; Carpi 9; Ternana, Trapani 8; Frosinone, Cittadella, Bari, Spezia, Avellino 7.