AC Milan dealt a blow to Napoli’s Scudetto hopes with a 0-0 draw at San Siro on Sunday afternoon.
While neither team dominated totally, Gianluigi Donnarumma’s late save to deny Arkadiusz Milik stole a point for the Rossoneri late on.
Who impressed in the stalemate?
STARTING XI
G.Donnarumma (8.5 – MOTM): Was focused during the whole game as he had to play a lot with his feet, run a lot to catch balls and stop a few efforts. The lad especially saved us from conceding a definite goal with a miracle save in stoppage time. He deserves the MOTM award for that.
Calabria (8): A very good performance from Calabria, he was extremely focused and had no fear of Mertens or Insigne. That’s a performance he can rank with his best of the year. Went forward when he could as always to yield a few good crosses.
Zapata (7.5): Today’s captain did the job perfectly and didn’t gift us any mistake. He was very precious in keeping away crosses and corners in the area. He made sure to stay at Milan next year by playing with that kind of confidence.
Musacchio (7): Was a bit less at ease than Zapata but was still a big part of the Rossoneri keeping a clean sheet tonight. We have to admit that it didn’t really feel like we missed Bonucci and Romagnoli on the day.
Rodriguez (7): A strong performance from Rodriguez today as well. He ran a lot to help out Calhanoglu who felt way too isolated and yielded a wonderful mid-height cross to Kalinic who almost deviated the ball on target.
Biglia (7): As always the man to rely on. Less impressive with his passing today, but applying a lot of grinta in his interceptions and defensive runs. He often pressed higher than Kessie and Bonaventura to avoid being too passive and try to prevent Jorginho from displaying.
Kessie (6): We needed an XXL Kessie today and we did get only half of that. While he was certainly important on many interceptions, he also failed way too many link-up plays and crosses. Could have been key to turn the game’s faith more towards us. Although he ran so much, he didn’t have anything against Koulibaly who stopped him with ease for the whole game.
Bonaventura (3.5): A game where it felt like he wasn’t on the pitch, except when he made mistakes. It’s to wonder whether it was down to the player or his position on the pitch, being so heavily closed down by Napoli’s presence in midfield. Gattuso should probably have done something sooner to try and find a use for him or to replace him.
Calhanoglu (6.5): Wasn’t playing with the usual attacking mindset he has, partly because 3 players were around him and Rodriguez when we had the chance to build up the play. He was very precise in his passing though, as always. Covered a lot of ground to help out defensively.
Suso (6): Awful first-half from Suso. As the team was mainly trying to attack from the right flank for most of the game, it was down to the Spaniard to try and create. Almost everything, he tried during the first-half resulted in lost possession and Napoli counter-attacking. It was better in the second half but wasn’t one of his brightest days. He too though, covered Calabria well on his side.
Kalinic (5.5): Missed a sitter during the first half as he perhaps didn’t await the ball to come to him. Fielding him today however was very understandable to try and put weight on Napoli’s central defenders, something he did throughout the game. He was replaced by Andre Silva around the 70th minute.
SUBSTITUTES
Andre Silva (5): Not much he could have done as he came in when much of the team were heavily struggling with their fitness. Passage of play was very poor at that time and only a few balls came to his feet.
Locatelli (4): Harsh rating but it’s partly due to where Gattuso fielded him. He Brought him on for Bonaventura and assigned him the same role. Locatelli of course was heavily struggling on the left side as he is no winger at all. Many may agree that he has to play more but surely not there.
THE COACH
Gennaro Gattuso (5): You have to wonder why Gattuso didn’t make changes earlier on and why he didn’t use his 3 available substitutions. Added to that, it showed that the team lacked possibilities going forward, especially because we felt like we needed Bonaventura to bring more offensively. The team was defensively strong and it’s nothing easy against Napoli. A mixed rating for him today.
