Old glories Modric and De Bruyne clash as AC Milan welcome Napoli

Luka Modric and Kevin De Bruyne will face off on Sunday night when Serie A champions Napoli travel north to face AC Milan and the first true test of their title defence.

Both icons of 21st century football, veterans De Bruyne and Modric chose Italy for the latter end of their careers and have so far impressed for their respective clubs.

De Bruyne has started all five of Napoli’s fixtures in the opening few weeks of the season, including the four league wins from four which have put Antonio Conte’s team top of the division on a perfect 12 points.

He has already scored twice this term as Conte tries to create a special role for the 34-year-old who joined Napoli in the summer after leaving Manchester City.

De Bruyne and last season’s player of the year Scott McTominay will be up against another formidable midfielder pairing in 40-year-old Modric and France’s Adrien Rabiot as Milan begin to warm up after a bumpy start.

Tuesday’s 3-0 Italian Cup win over Lecce was a fourth straight win in all competitions for Milan, who sit three points behind Napoli in third and could yet be a dark horse for the Scudetto.

None of Napoli’s major rivals have stood out yet and Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri benefits from having no European football to worry about, just like Conte on his charge to his sixth league title as a manager.

Napoli meanwhile host Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday night and last weekend Conte warned against “the physical and mental stress” of having to play every three or four days.

Milan will also be able to welcome Rafael Leao back to the fray as the Portugal winger returned to team training on Thursday morning.

Leao hasn’t played since suffering a calf injury in a Cup win over Bari last month but is set to make his league debut for the season, probably from the bench.

That is a major boost for Milan, especially as Napoli will be without star defender Alessandro Buongiorno who suffered a hamstring injury last weekend and will miss both Sunday’s clash and the visit of Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Juventus will have a chance to take provisional top spot on Saturday when they host unbeaten Atalanta with a two-point gap separating them from Napoli.

Ademola Lookman will likely get more playing time in Turin after being brought back into the fold by Ivan Juric last weekend with the visit of Club Brugge coming up on Tuesday.

Juric will be hoping Lookman can help Atalanta in the Champions League after the Bergamo outfit were humiliated by Paris Saint-Germain in the opening round of matches in Europe’s elite club competition. 

Key stats

4 – Napoli are the only team left with a 100 percent record after winning their first four Serie A matches of the season.

59  – The number of club trophies won by Modric and De Bruyne.