After a tough but deserved win against Udinese on Sunday, Milan kept the San Siro faithful with another home win, this time a 2-0 triumph over SPAL.
It was two penalties that did the damage for the visitors; the first a foul on Nikola Kalinic that Ricardo Rodriguez converted, while the second was a foul on Franck Kessie with the Ivorian dusting himself off to score from the spot.
Who impressed for Vincenzo Montella’s men on Wednesday night?
STARTING XI
Donnarumma (6): Guarded by a pretty decent defence, the young goalkeeper barely had to do anything but was still a strong presence and was always solid when his participation was needed.
Zapata (6.5): Another sound performance from the Colombian, who was always concentrated, won a lot of balls and complemented Bonucci and Romagnoli beautifully.
Bonucci (6.5): A very good performance from the captain. Made a lot of interceptions, got involved in a lot of build-up play and made a goal line clearance that would have resulted in a sure goal for SPAL.
Romagnoli (6): The least impressive of the back three but still had a decent game, his tackles prevented a lot of dangerous attacks for the visitors.
Abate (5.5): Not a very encouraging performance, was almost invisible on the right flank, misplaced a lot of passes and failed to deliver decent crosses when the opportunity came about.
Rodriguez (7): One of his best performances yet. The Swiss international did not only score the first penalty of the game, but was always present offensively as well as defensively, and did not allow the opponents to have any space on the left side of the pitch.
Kessie (7.5 – MOTM): Yet another near-flawless game from the young midfielder, who drew and scored the second penalty of the game, recovered a lot of balls and always made his presence felt on the pitch throughout the game. Was guilty of occasionally misplacing passes.
WATCH: Franck Kessie scores #ACMilan's second! #MilanSpal 2-0. 🔴⚫️ pic.twitter.com/EGSHYJRdx4
— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) September 20, 2017
Biglia (7.5): The architect of the team; his creativity had no limits and the Argentine had his foot on every balls passing by the midfield.
Calanoglu (6): Not a flattering performance by the Turkish midfielder, who lost a lot of balls and failed to create chances for the strikers but still made some good tackles and contributed on the defensive side.
Kalinic (6): Was not really visible despite winning the first penalty that led to the first Milan goal, but in truth he was not given a lot of service.
A.Silva (6.5): Encouraging performance from the young striker. Was not able to score, but was the most involved in the game out of the two strikers on the pitch and showcased some good dribbling abilities.
SUBSTITUTES
Suso (5.5): Struggled when coming on as second striker; could not find any space and was guilty of being wasteful.
Bonaventura (6): Won some good balls in the midfield, gave a hard time to the defenders and won some vital late free kicks for the team.
Locatelli (N/A): Did not have enough time to leave an impact on the pitch but did exactly what was needed from him for the remaining of the game.
thanks for getting the ratings up quick…. interesting perspective, but I am not so sure Biglia was a 7.5…. I agree with Kessie’s rating as he carried the midfield with a lot of work and running.. but for Biglia as the “creative architect” of the team which had no real chances in open play 7.5 seems high doesn’t it? He is a solid, if unspectacular player, and he didnt create one chance, or even have incisive pass that I saw, just kept things ticking….and I would rather see Loca start. Ultimately, for me Kessie is by far the most important player in midfield so far this season…
As a FAN, I am happy to see the team winning.
But if we see things deep to the realities, the team should have scored more against such new face of series A while there is a chance at Home.
What I see is all attacking players, mostly A. Silva, Kalinic, and most of attacking players were just shooting at goals whenever they have a chance to see the poles straight while they obviously knew that their shots had almost 0% of getting the ball into the net.
Thanks god for getting 2 Penalties! But these goals didn’t impressed/convinced me as I see the team should have scored more at Home while facing such team!
What I see is AC Milan still need A LOT OF ROOMS TO GROW IN FINE GOALS WITH FINE SET PIECES & A LOT OF ROOMS IN ORGANIZING WHEN being scored/down. Then we can see a finer product of AC Milan!
Thanks for the rating our players will get better more and more. Good luck to Milan. # We are Milan #
I wish to watch bon,hakan and suso play together against sampdoria.The creativity will be great
Biglia is a not a playmaker, his main assets are ball recopery and passing efficiency, at which he was, basically, the best in the match. It’s his second good game in a row. When Kessie goes up in the attack, someone’s got to cover him in the back. It was a good transfer.