AC Milan played the first of two legs in the Champions League semi-final against Inter last night, but unfortunately lost 0-2. And it could have been worse for the Rossoneri, who now have a mountain to climb.
Stefano Pioli’s men looked scared from the start and Inter took advantage of this, scoring two goals within the first eleven minutes. and Milan can consider themselves lucky that the Nerazzuri only scored two goals in the first half.
The game was much more balanced in the second half, as Milan had a couple of great chances and hit the post, but despite all their efforts they failed to find the back of the net. At the very least, they limited the damage to just two goals. Here are five things we learned…
1. Dreadful at the back
Davide Calabria was easily beaten on the corner kick for the opening goal as Edin Dzeko easily (but with a great finish) opened the scoring. Calabria seemed to be on edge after that, as he was constantly out of position and had a hard time against his opponents, which wasn’t expected given his recent form.
Simon Kjaer and Fikayo Tomori were disappointing at the back as they just let Henrikh Mkhitaryan run through the middle, without anyone trying to stop him for the second goal. Even though Sandro Tonali did a poor job of tracking back on that one, the hole in the defence was even worse.
The nightmare at the back didn’t end there as Tomori and Kjaer continued with the sloppiness throughout their stay on the pitch, and it’s a miracle that Milan weren’t punished more.
The only defender that at least didn’t commit as many errors was Theo Hernandez, but he didn’t play to his standard level either as he failed to make any impact going forward, and was struggling in defence alongside his teammates.
2. Midfield disaster
Whilst Calabria was to blame for the first goal, Tonali was the culprit on the second as he just did not start tracking Mkhitaryan until it was too late, and even when he did he jogged instead of sprinted which is unacceptable. The Armenian started his run a few meters behind Tonali and the latter didn’t really do much in that whole sequence, and got punished for it.
Krunic was also below his usual reliable self as he failed to help defensively and was of no use going forward either. And whilst Tonali stepped up after his mistake, the Bosnian did nothing for the entirety of the game, but unfortunately for Pioli, there were no options on the bench and with Bennacer injured and most likely missing the reverse fixture it will be up to Krunic to redeem himself in a week’s time.
3. Toothless in attack
Milan without Leao were, as we have often seen, toothless in attack and the team continued the negative run without him. Olivier Giroud just looks exhausted at this stage of the season and we can’t really blame the striker, as he’s been forced to constantly play amid the lack of proper deputies.
But Giroud isn’t the main man to blame because he didn’t even get a chance to prove himself, with the awful service he received or didn’t for that matter.
Brahim Diaz had a couple of decent moments but failed to link up with the striker and Junior Messias also did not manage to provide Giroud with anything meaningful. The Brazilian also missed the biggest chance of the game for Milan, as he failed to hit the target in 1v1.
Alexis Saelemaekers was probably the brightest of the bunch as he had quite a few good moments where he managed to beat his man, but ultimately failed to materialise any of the good work. It was, however, a positive display from the Belgian and if Pioli can play both him and Leao in the reverse fixture, then Milan might be a bit more dangerous going forward.
4. Two obvious problems that need addressing
The first is the most obvious. Milan must invest. Paolo Maldini mentioned this prior to the game, stating that the team isn’t close to the biggest in Europe and needs to invest to get there.
Realistically, Milan have some great players and a lot of talent, but they are still lacking quality in the starting XI even when everybody is fit and the even bigger issue is the squad depth. It’s not serious for a club that wants to reach the Champions League final to have zero firepower when Leao isn’t on the pitch.
Milan need an overhaul in the summer and quality depth needs to be brought in if the management is serious about solidifying the club’s place in Italy and Europe.
The second problem was Stefano Pioli’s tactics, which were really questionable and need addressing going into the reverse fixture. The Italian knew that he would be without his star and the logical thing to do would have been to play in a compact way, trying not to concede in the first place and then perhaps countering. Instead, we saw a very disorganized Milan, no compactness whatsoever, and for whatever reason the whole central area was just given to Inter, especially in the first half.
A lot of tactical problems and Pioli has less than a week to get Milan back on track, as they have 90 more minutes to react.
5. The only positive
Whilst nobody really deserves praise after a performance like this, Sandro Tonali – even though he was at fault for the second goal – deserves a kind word or two.
The youngster reacted well to his mistake and was constantly trying to get on the ball and make something happen for his team. In the second half especially, he showed really great qualities – long passing, dribbling, passing, shooting.
He wasn’t afraid to run forward with the ball and did so very successfully. He also should’ve gotten an assist, but Messias spoiled the lovely pass that Tonali gave him cutting through the Inter defence.
Sandro also hit the post as he almost redeemed himself for the mistake on the goal. Pioli will be hoping that the Italian can reproduce this performance next week or hopefully even be better. as he really could’ve done with more focus and aggression at the beginning of the game,
1Thing we learned is that we always have to praise Tonali no matter what. No matter how many goals he costs us with his low football IQ and laziness. The second goal was on him, and I could show you at least half a dozen other times this season where the exact same thing happened and it cost us a goal. He never picks up his man in transition. He’s always ball watching. Not to mention our midfield got completely bossed this game , as it has so many times this season, even against the bottom table teams. He simply isn’t up to the task. Now with Bennacer out it’s going to get even worse.
Milan need to sign a starting quality midfielder, preferably get Kessie back here.
First and most important investment RedBird needs to make this summer is invest in a qualified professional who will run the club sporting department.
You can’t expect an overhaul of the squad to happen if you have a sporting director that can’t sell. So the only players that will most likely leave Milan this summer will be those whose contracts are expiring.
Bakayoko finally will leave after 2 years of all inclusive paid vacation curtosey of Paolo.
Dest, highest paid player on the team, who isn’t even getting a call up for games.
Vranck, 2 mil loan fee wasted
Tatarusanu and Mirante.
Hopefully someone steps in and says no to extending old man Zlatan, and I’m even more hopeful than someone will stop the purchase of Brahim Diaz.
Half of the players in our squad are unusable but people wanna make you believe that Maldini only mistake was CDK.
“Overhaul of the squad”
Get to the semi-final of the champions league after the winning the title and it’s time to…..SACK EVERYONE, OVERHAUL EVERYTHING, CHANGE THE NAME OF THE CLUB……OH WAIT KEEP THE NAME OF THE CLUB…..I WANT TO SAY I SUPPORT A TEAM THAT HAS THAT NAME BECAUSE I LIKE THE NAME “AC MILAN” I JUST DON’T LIKE THE OWNERS, THE DIRECTORS, THE MANAGER, OR ANY PLAYERS…….
The delusion of @Maldinis Heir at action again.
The same guy that said we didn’t need reinforcements in the winter mercato and that we can still win the scudetto with the players that won the title last season. How is that going?
We are most likely to not be in UCL next season. Italy might actually have 5 teams in UCL if Roma wins Europa league and Milan wont be 1 of the 5 teams. The only thing that would make this season worse is Inter actually winning the UCL.
We are in the semi final of the UCL only because of the luck of the draw. We had an easy group, with the worst Chelsea team in the last 15 years, who still smacked us, easiest 2 wins of the season for them. Salzburg, the youngest team in UCL and Dinamo Zagreb, then we got crappy Tottenham, Napoli and Inter, who just smacked us with ease, again.
Look at the other side of the bracket. ManCity played PSG, Bayern and now Real Madrid, while Real had to play Liverpool, Chelsea and now ManCity.
Luck is the reason we are in the semis not the quality of the project or quality of the squad.
In football, just like in life, you either get better or you get worse. Milan got way worse this season. Worse title defense ever, which proved right everyone who said that our title last season was a fluke or a miracle.
Without an overhaul over the summer Milan might fall behind Atalanta, Roma and Fiorentina next season. Our squad outside of Maignan, Theo and Leao isn’t much better than theirs.
But hey, lets stay path, because last year a miracle happened and we won the scudetto.
Miracles don’t happen every year.
I’m the delusional one even though I’m sticking to reality and you’re the one fantasising about what might or might not happen on the transfer market, and dismissing what actually happened in real life?
But this is the modern football fan.
You don’t support a team, you support a brand name.
Yes you are the delusional one, because you believe that this squad is better than the standings show, while the reality is that this squad needs a major overhaul. There are 3 top players, several average players and bunch of bellow average and useless players.
Last season was an overachievement, a miracle, this season is the reality, but you keep talking about Last season.
In 2023, 19 serie A games, only 7 wins. Last 10 serie A games, only 3 wins. The way the squad plays, we are closer to finishing 7th than in top 4.
Knocked out of the copa Italia by a 10-man Torino team.
Embarrassed by Inter in supercopa.
If We miss UCL, this season isn’t much better than some of those banter Era seasons.
But hey, wanting my team to be better and to be run by better professionals is somehow supporting a brand name.
This is not FootballItalia.com where you are known to go back and forth with other delusional fans from other clubs, who believe their players, their coaches and their directors are the best because they are fans of the club you support.
Overhaul is not a solution, we see many club did this (include Milan) and they won nothing either. Team need to be build, this is 11vs11 not 1 on 1. The key is consistency, and insert few new players every season.
This team were build for last 16 and we are in Semi final now, the owner never say to win the CL this year, the target is to keep qualify for CL every year. This is a long journey, if we can wait a decade without clear roadmap, so why we can’t wait now and rush everything.
Hahahahaha@ Pioli – you just love to hate on Maldini lol. Yes he had a bad summer transfer campaign. It happens. What’s more concerning is the lack of $$$ provided by Ownership to invest in the squad. No sporting director with the goal of wining CL can do it on our poor transfer budget. Start with Redbird/Elliot then work your way from their my friend. You get what you pay for.
Right back at ya @Juro.
You just love to hate on the owners.
One bad transfer campaign? Check last seasons transfer campaign. Thank God for Maignan and Giroud.
You get what you pay for?
32 mil for CDK gets you 1 assist. Is that the current going rate for 1 assist a season?
Origi and dest, highest paid players on the team, 4 mil and almost 5 mil per season. 2 goals between both of them.
Bakayoko, Florenzi, Messias, Ballo Toure, Vranckx, Adli. Those are all players he brought to the team over the last 2 years. What have they contributed with? Almost nothing.
And he would have more money to spend if he can actually sell a player.
Look how other well run clubs operate on the market. They get some money from ownership and the rest of the funds they get from selling players. But Maldini doesn’t need to sell, he only needs to beg on TV for owners money. Too bad that all the TV pundits are his ex teammates and none of them asks him if he understands that selling is also part of his duties as a sporting director.
I already owned you in another post. Chelsea lost 5 players for nothing this season.
A club cannot make a player leave if they want to stay – De Jong at Barca being an obvious example.
Players running down contracts has been happening for 33 years, are you new?
Most transfers fail, again, are you new?
You have the understanding of a child. Stop posting.
Fans are not entitled to demand owners spend money on the team.
That is not what sport is about.
And you can’t support A team without supporting THE team. The players who currently play for A team are THE team. If you don’t like those players and want some other players playing for A team then you don’t support THE team, you support some fantasy team in your head (or in some computer game).
Football will never improve whilst fans are this superficial.
Exactly. He can go and support another club.
Totally agree
Looking at this current state, one can only imagine if we had got Dybala and belotti for free instead of Origi and CDK.
But we didn’t so what’s the point of imagining?
And they play for our rivals so why are supporting rival players?
Rival players who play for a team beneath us in the table and who haven’t done much this season themselves?
Belotti has been just as bad of a free agent signing for Roma as Origi has been for Milan.
Dybala is a top player, but he is injury prone, and both of those things were proven to be true again this season.
When he is available, he is awesome, and he would have definitely been a better contributor than CDK and Brahim, but he suffers 1 injury per month.
Lol. Belotti has been trash all year. Hindsight is 20/20. Easy to say now
I thought Saelemaekers played relatively well, too. He was subbed because he was exhausted, having ran his heart out.
Tonali wasn’t afraid to run with ball…
This is so correct. Many our players are afraid of it.
On another note, imagine what we could’ve achieved this season with even one more good player like Di Maria on the right.
Something has to change. Either invest properly on Milan quality talented young players, not nobodies, or sign some veterans to mix with all the youngsters, albeit on higher wages like we did with Zlatan or could’ve done with someone like Di Maria.
Di Maria would’ve been my choice too but all you get on here is fans bleating “grandpa.” Same with Arnautovic recently.
5 alternatives from me….
1) This is why rotating against the likes of Cremonese was a mistake, we still can get injuries to key players so we may as well make hay whilst the sun does it’s thing.
2) We need to treat the Spezia game like the final it is.
3) Getting an early goal against inter will be crucial.
4) Let’s go Tonali, Krunic and Brahim against Spezia and Inter.
5) If we must have regrets let’s regret every full back we have signed since 2010 (which are in the double figures) when we could’ve just kept Darmian….so much wasted money, time and cohesion.
6) Let us learn from 5) and remember that we have a young team and the whole point in having a young team is to one day have an older team consisting of the same players who have played together for a long time because that is the key to long term success. Whatever the outcome the project is AHEAD of where everyone thought it’d be so stop acting spoilt.
The one who was the cause of the 2nd goal is the only positive.come on. Shun this Bais approach. The whole team were in shambles.
So let me see. Tonali’s error made us 2-0 down instead of 1-0 but he still gets MOTM? Come on guys, that’s just biasedness or illogical. Let’s say the game was 1-0 and ended that way, you’re telling me he’s still MOTM because he played well afterwards?
This totally ignores the work done by Saele. Thiaw also has a shout as he steadied the defence and Theo who didn’t make a mistake in defence. Outside shot is Origi who created well. All perfectly legit options. Not the guy who caused us to be down 2 goals
One of the worst things about this game was our CB communication and positioning and yet gets no mention.
‘The first is the most obvious. Milan must invest. Paolo Maldini mentioned this prior to the game, stating that the team isn’t close to the biggest in Europe and needs to invest to get there”
“ The second problem was Stefano Pioli’s tactics, which were really questionable and need addressing going into the reverse fixture. The Italian knew that he would be without his star and the logical thing to do would have been to play in a compact way, trying not to concede in the first place and then perhaps countering. Instead, we saw a very disorganized Milan, no compactness whatsoever, and for whatever reason the whole central area was just given to Inter, especially in the first half.”
SPOT ON
we just can’t always be lucky, owner need spend like ASAP, how can players like Darmian, de Schiglio, Bellanova, Cristante, Pessina, Locatelli, Kerkez even Jack is doing well & so useful for their clubs while we buy a bunch of useles squad players?
Pioli as a coach has many qualities but he also has flaws and one of them is he is a medioker in tactical inteligence, we can see in milan playing strategy that almost no variaton and no innovation at all. Milan often playing like that, stuck in the final third and bad in deadball defence, his 4231 is so readable, yes we lack of quality wold class players but at least the coach have more solution for that problems. We can see taht inzaghi is outsmart pioli in big time, inzaghi has optimize what he has, he prefer dzeko because he know milan is suck in corner, not afraid to bench brozovic who recently out form to have more fluid movement in the center, and this season a few game againts inter is a prove inzaghis superiority from pioli. But dont worry we still have second leg, everything is possible, forza milan
Inter simply have much better players.
True, but againts small tim likes cremonese and salernitana we still have difficulties.
“Football made simple” on Youtube. has a pretty good analysis of the game. I recommend it.
We took a step forward last season and 2 backwards this season. Kessie wasn’t replaced – huge mistake. A proper forward wasn’t signed and we had to rely on constantly injured Zlatan, Rebic, aging Giroud (only 8 goals) and bench warmer Origi. The budget was wasted on CDK and high wages for useless players like Origi and Bakayoko. Pioli got lucky with the CL draw after being embarrassed by a poor Chelsea. Then he rested most starters against small teams, sacrificing next season’s CL, then getting smacked by Inter again.
We need a powerful younger striker, a creative mid, and a new coach to even challenge for top 4 next season.
Yes Tonali reacted well in the second half but if we want to praise anyone it should be Maignan. He is the only player who showed up (maybe Thiaw as well) and the only reason we’re not 4-0 down going into the second leg.