Milan vs Rennes

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In the elimination stage of the playoffs, AC Milan and Rennes are vying for a spot in the Europa League last 16. The first leg of the match takes place at San Siro on Thursday.

The teams square off in a meaningful match for the first time when Champions League losers take on a side that dominated Group F in the fall.Although Milan had hoped to at least repeat their run to the last four from the previous year, it was not a significant upset given the type of their Champions League opponents—Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, and Newcastle United.

The Italian behemoths dropped into the Europa League after finishing third, behind PSG and Dortmund. There, they will have to win a difficult two-leg match to advance to the round of sixteen.

They have improved their final third play since being eliminated from UEFA's premier club tournament. More importantly, though, they have developed a clinical edge: in the Champions League group stage, only RB Salzburg scored less goals than Milan's five, even though four clubs had more shots.As they welcomed struggling Scudetto holders Napoli to San Siro on Sunday evening, the Rossoneri emerged victorious in a battle between the final two Serie A champions, posting their fourth win in five games.

Theo Hernandez, a flying full-back, gave Stefano Pioli's team the lead midway through the first half against Frosinone, which strengthened their hold on third place. Since then, they have cut the gap to just one point over second-place Juventus, with city rivals Inter Milan leading the way by eight points.

Milan may be well on their way to a Champions League spot based on their league position, having scored 20 goals in eight games this year, but they now go back to a tournament they haven't yet mastered: The seven-time winners of the European Championship have neverRennes hasn't won any European trophies since the 2008 Intertoto Cup, but they'll be heading to Italy's second city at their peak this year.

Les Rouge et Noirs, who last lost anywhere in their last Europa League group match two months ago, will take on another red-and-black team after winning seven straight games since the new year—seven if a penalty shootout victory over Marseille in the Coupe de France counts.

In addition to defeating Sochaux 6-1 to secure a place in the cup quarterfinals, Rennes has also defeated Nice and a rapidly developing Lyon team, as well as edging past Montpellier and Le Havre in recent weeks.Thus, a drive for European qualifying has begun, as the Breton club has closed the gap on fifth-place Lille to just four points after hiring Julien Stephan as head coach. After taking over for Bruno Genesio, Stephan has won 10 of his 14 games in management. Rennes is currently back in the Europa League after winning three consecutive away games in Ligue 1.

They narrowly lost to Villarreal in Group F, but they still finished ahead of Maccabi Haifa and Panathinaikos. As a result, they will face a difficult playoff match rather than a straight-up spot in the round of 16.

Nevertheless, Rennes is now attempting to win three straight away games in Europe for the first time after winning back-to-back games while traveling. But history is not on their favor; on their three prior trips to Italy, they were defeated.