Laurent Koscielny was part of the Arsenal team that last played in the San Siro back in 2012, an unhappy experience as we lost 4-0 to the Italian giants.
The landscape has changed considerably since then, but the France international expects a similarly fierce challenge against the Rossoneri, who have been reborn under Rino Gattuso.
"They have a good coach and I think they give him a lot of commitment with great fighting spirit on the pitch," Koscielny said. "They all work well together. We have a young team but still have players with lots of experience, so it’s a good mix.
"It was a different game in 2012 because they have lost a lot of players [since then]. They had big players like Ibrahimovic. We lost 4-0 here and won at home 3-0.
"In this competition we play two games. The first one is always very important to play well - but last time we didn’t. Now it’s a different competition with a good team and new players. It will be important to be focused on this game and also the second.
"Milan are an historic club so we know that they’re always going to be competitive when they’re in Europe. We think it will be a tough game and we’re also playing at the San Siro as well.
"For us, it will be important for us to stay focused. We know we have two games to qualify for the next round, so we need to be together and defend very well because they have a lot of quality up front."
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.