After a disappointing 3-2 loss against Rennes in the Europa League, AC Milan faced Atalanta at San Siro hoping to solidify their spot firmly inside the top four.
It all started in the best way possible too with Rafael Leao scoring a beautiful just three minutes into the game, ending a five-month league goal drought in the process.
Milan looked in control of the game and were just about coasting until the 42nd minute when a penalty kick was awarded to Atalanta, which was questionable to say the least, but was converted calmly by Teun Koopmeiners to bring the scores level just before half-time.
Milan didn’t allow the goal to throw them off balance as they continued to dictate the game, however that didn’t result in a second goal as something was missing in the final third despite the dominance.
Here are five things we observed during the game…
1. That’s more like it!
As mentioned in the introduction, Leao finally got his goal in Serie A after his last one on September 23 against Verona, and what a moment of brilliance it was.
He picked up the ball on the left touchline with a lot of work to do in order to even get into a shooting position, but he bundled through Holm and Scalvini – no easy task – before opening up onto his right foot and whipping a gorgeous shot inside the far post.
The winger then continued to be the main threat for his team throughout the 90 minutes as he created chances for his team-mates and often drifted into central areas to try expose Atalanta in transition.
Unfortunately, the winning goal didn’t come in the end but Leao’s performance was something special, his best of the season in Pioli’s eyes. He was constantly trying to get on the ball and make things happen.
2. The Oscar for Best Director
If it weren’t for Leao’s goal and very strong overall performance, we would have probably put forward the notion that Yacine Aldi deserved to be the Man of the Match.
The Frenchman had a really complete performance in a deeper-lying midfield role, working very hard defensively with quite the few crucial interventions but was always asking for the ball in build-up too.
Aldi wasn’t afraid to play the difficult balls between the lines and most of the times they were pretty accurate, opening quite a bit of space for his team-mates and allowing them to run on the half-turn.
The game against Atalanta might just have been his best in red and black and it’s nice to see him developer further as he clearly has the talent to back it up.
3. Trio disappoint
Whilst Leao and Aldi were the protagonists on the night, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ismael Bennacer and Christian Pulisic were the exact opposite.
Loftus-Cheek and Bennacer barely helped Adli in the middle and it’s a good thing that the youngest of the three played such a brilliant game otherwise the situation could’ve been much worse.
Pulisic also struggled as he couldn’t impact the game going forward whilst also committing a sloppy mistake at the back that could’ve been costly, but fortunately wasn’t as Atalanta didn’t take full advantage of the situation and Adli’s challenge bailed him out.
Going forward the only positive moment was when the American controlled the ball with style after a lovely long, diagonal pass by Leao, but the winger failed to find the target.
It wasn’t three disastrous performances by any means, but we just can’t help feeling that if just one of them had stepped up then that might have seen Milan over the line.
4. An isolated figure
It feels as though any criticism of Giroud must start with the obvious precursor that he has been picking up goals and assist throughout the season consistently, and he has worked overtime a lot too.
However, he has also on multiple occasions not been able to help the team out with his overall play and unfortunately that was the case against Atalanta. His hold-up play wasn’t really there, and in the second half when the crosses were flying in he never really got near.
The Frenchman offered little going forward and was at fault for the penalty, which despite being a very questionable decision, doesn’t really change the fact that he made a risky intervention which he perhaps should know better than to do, with all his experience.
5. Changeless changes
Pioli tried to change thing a bit as he introduced Davide Calabria, Yunus Musah and Noah Okafor, but contrary to the trend of the season so far they basically provided zero impact.
Calabria was just returning from a muscle injury which meant it was important for him to play a segment of such a challenging game, and though he got himself into some good crossing positions his end product was rusty.
Musah came on full of energy and tried to drive the play forward, yet he can sometimes give and impression of not really being aware of the game situation or what the right next move is.
Lastly, Okafor got quite a difficult assignment to come on and unpick an Atalanta side that – by Gasperini’s own admission – had essentially settled for a draw with five defenders and two holding midfielder.
