Veteran striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss Milan's Serie A game with Empoli on Wednesday due to a knee injury.

Milan head coach Stefano Pioli confirmed the 40-year-old Swedish forward's absence along with Rafael Leao leaving him short of attacking options.

Ibrahimovic has netted seven league goals this term for Milan, who have only managed one point from their past two games, slipping four points behind leaders Inter in the league

"[Leao] won’t be there tomorrow, he’ll be back against Roma. Ibrahimovic won’t be there tomorrow because of an overload on his knee," Pioli told reporters.

Pioli was more positive about captain Alessio Romagnoli's prospects of playing, along with Theo Hernandez after illness amid an injury crisis at the club, without Simon Kjaer, Davide Calabria, Ante Rebic and Pietro Pellegri also out.

"Theo has become more complete, now he does the defensive phase better too," Pioli said.

"He gives us a lot on the attacking side. He’s better, I hope he’ll be in top condition tomorrow."

Pioli added that he paid little attention to the criticism levelled at his side lately, following Sunday's 1-0 home loss to Napoli who leapfrogged them into second spot.

"I read little, but some things are useful to improve," he said. "Against Napoli, Milan played a good match.

"We make mistakes that are not allowing us to get results, clearly we need to do something more. We need more quality."

Pioli added: "When results don’t come it’s right to be less calm, but also more determined.

"We have to think about tomorrow’s game, we want to get back on track after a home defeat. We wanted to score more points in the first half of the season than we did last year. It won’t be possible, but we want the three points tomorrow."

Milan have 39 points after 18 games, but have only collected eight points from their past seven league games.

Danilo D'Ambrosio and Federico Dimarco were on target as Inter returned to winning ways with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Empoli on Wednesday.

Simone Inzaghi's side had stuttered in Serie A in recent weeks, losing to Lazio and drawing with Juventus before this trip to Empoli.

However, D'Ambrosio broke the deadlock in the first half, scoring in a seventh consecutive top-flight campaign, and Samuele Ricci's dismissal for a reckless challenge after the break eased Inter's task.

Dimarco capitalised to make sure of the points and consolidate the Nerazzurri's third-place position.

Petar Stojanovic's speculative long-range effort had brought the first save of the contest from Samir Handanovic, before Dimarco tried his luck from a similar distance and was denied by Guglielmo Vicario.

The Empoli goalkeeper was powerless 11 minutes before the break, when D'Ambrosio headed into the bottom-left corner following Alexis Sanchez's dinked pass.

Nicolo Barella almost doubled Inter's lead on the stroke of half-time but blasted against the woodwork, before Ricci received a straight red card for a dangerous sliding challenge on the Nerazzurri midfielder after the interval.

Roberto Gagliardini then headed onto the left-hand post and Martinez was denied by a wonderful Vicario stop, either side of Sanchez's close-range finish being chalked off for offside.

Dimarco eventually added a second in the 66th minute, tapping in Martinez's low cross at the back post, although the visitors could have won by more, with two more goals ruled out. Gagliardini was penalised for handball and Stefano Sensi was flagged in the closing stages.

Massimiliano Allegri said Juventus cannot keep thinking about Cristiano Ronaldo after the struggling Serie A giants crashed to a shock loss against Empoli without the Manchester United-bound superstar.

Without Ronaldo as he edges closer to returning to Premier League contenders United, Allegri's Juve were upstaged 1-0 by visitors and newly promoted Empoli in Turin on Saturday.

Mancuso's strike lifted Empoli to a surprise victory and condemned Juve to a winless start to the season following last week's draw at Udinese.

Juve have failed to win either of their opening two in the competition for the third time in the last 52 Serie A seasons – having done so in 2010-11 and 2015-16, and head coach Allegri was asked about five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo's exit post game.

"Cristiano spent three years at Juventus, he scored goals, which he is very good at, he's an extraordinary player, but we cannot think about Ronaldo from now on," Allegri told DAZN.

"I have a fine squad, we simply must realise that we can't just dominate every match.

"We need to come together and this will help us for the future.

"I am optimistic, always."

Ronaldo joined Juve from Real Madrid in 2018 and he remained an ultra-reliable frontman for the Italian giants, scoring 81 goals in 98 Serie A games.

The 36-year-old 29 league goals last season and 36 across all competitions. In 2020-21, only four players across Europe's top five leagues scored more goals than his 36-goal haul.

Ronaldo is also contributing far less in other areas of the pitch than during his prime years. He won just six tackles last season, and only three in the league. Only five strikers with five goals or more in Serie A last season won fewer. In his 60-goal third season at Madrid, Ronaldo won 33 tackles.

The Portugal captain made 73 crosses in open play across all competitions, and 64 came in the league, the fifth-highest total of any five-goal-plus Serie A striker, but that number is far from what the former Sporting CP was producing at his career's peak. In his final season at United (2008-09) he put in 197 open-play crosses, and he topped 100 in each of his first three seasons at Madrid (2009-10 to 2011-12).

He continues to produce excellent figures, but he no longer vastly exceeds his expected goals (xG) totals and has instead almost exactly matched them in each season while at Juventus (2018-19: 28 goals from 28.3 xG; 2019-20: 37 goals from 35.84 xG; 2020-21: 36 goals from 35.34 xG).

Meanwhile, Juve have lost two successive Serie A home matches against promoted sides for the first time in their top-flight history.

Juve have also lost two consecutive league fixtures against promoted teams (Benevento in March and Empoli on Saturday) for the first time since 1999.

The Bianconeri have conceded in each of their last 16 league games – only twice in their Serie A history they have been on a longer streak without a clean sheet: 19 in April 2010 and 21 in October 1955

Massimiliano Allegri insisted Juventus will improve after a 1-0 home defeat to Empoli on Saturday left them winless in Serie A after two matches.

Leonardo Mancuso scored what proved to be the winner in Turin as Juve looked toothless up top without Cristiano Ronaldo, who edges closer to joining Manchester United.

Mancuso's first-half effort means Juve remain winless after their opening two games – the third time they have done so in 52 Serie A campaigns – following a 2-2 draw against Udinese last weekend. It capped a night to remember for Empoli, who secured a first away Serie A win at Juve after 11 defeats and one draw. 

And despite a slow start to the 2021-22 campaign, Allegri is remaining upbeat.

"Tonight the team started well, after the goal we disunited and we put ourselves in the hands of the team," Allegri told DAZN.

"[Against] Empoli, it was necessary to have more patience, to play as a team and not individually.

"It's not easy, we have a point after two games, but we have all the time to improve.

"It's a difficult moment, we need to grow. There have been too many players who have done things wrong that are not usually wrong."

Leonardo Mancuso scored to secure a surprise 1-0 victory for newly-promoted Empoli in Turin that left Juventus stunned and still without a win in Serie A this season.

Mancuso ended his side's five-game run without a league goal at Juve in the competition as he opened the scoring from close range, while Guglielmo Vicario impressed in goal.

Without Cristiano Ronaldo as he edges closer to returning to Manchester United, Juve's main attacking threat came through Federico Chiesa, but even he could not steer any of his three attempts past the Empoli goalkeeper.

Chiesa forced early saves from Vicario, with surging runs creating both opportunities before the goalkeeper produced smart saves to parry away.

However, it was Mancuso who struck first, profiting from Nedim Bajrami's deflected shot to spin and volley past Wojciech Szczesny. 

Mancuso's opener stunned the vociferous Allianz Stadium and was Empoli's first Serie A away goal against Juventus since Sergio Almiron netted in January 2006.

Vicario pushed away another low effort from Chiesa, while Patrick Cutrone almost made it two but fired narrowly wide to Szczesny's right with a thumping effort.

On the stroke of half-time, Szczesny was called into action once more, retreating quickly to tip over the crossbar and spare Chiesa's blushes after the Juventus forward had looked to head backwards.

Paolo Dybala started the second half encouragingly, linking up with Alvaro Morata and drilling at Vicario before Bajrami forced another save from Szczesny.

Dybala curled wide from a free-kick, but the hosts failed to find a way past Vicario, ensuring a memorable victory for Empoli.