AC Milan 1-1 Feyenoord (1-2 agg): Rossoneri exit after Theo Hernandez sees red

AC Milan’s Champions League journey came to an end in rather embarrassing fashion as they drew 1-1 with Feyenoord at San Siro to lose 2-1 on aggregate.

Everything was going the way Milan would have hoped inside a minute when Santiago Gimenez was on hand to level the tie with a finish from close range after Malick Thiaw’s header back across goal.

However, everything fell apart in the second half after Theo Hernandez was shown red for two very silly yellow cards, and then Julian Carranza came off the bench to equalise on the night and send the Dutch side through.

It is certainly nothing short of a nightmare for the Rossoneri, who will have expected to progress to the last 16 of the competition even after the first leg deficit, but now see one of the big objectives go up in smoke.

Sergio Conceicao chose to make three changes to the starting line-up that faced Hellas Verona on Saturday with Strahinja Pavlovic, Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao all coming into the side, while Joao Felix and Santiago Gimenez also started to form the ‘Fantastic Four’ attack.

Milan could not have hoped for a better start than the one they made, as Gimenez scored against his former club after less than a minute. A corner was taken short by Theo Hernandez to Felix whose deep cross was nodded back across goal by Malick Thiaw, giving the Mexican striker the easy task of nodding in from close range just like against Verona.

The game continued at a frenzied pace after the fast start, with Feyenoord firing their first shot of the game over the bar through Moder, and then Tijjani Reijnders lashing one over from a similar range at the other end following Kyle Walker’s cut-back.

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The Gimenez-Felix link-up was on full display in the 19th minute when the former curled a lovely pass to the latter who brought the ball down and dribbled into the box, eventually shooting but failing to keep it down.

Milan were inches away from taking the lead in the tie and the chance fell to Theo Hernandez. Felix had an attempt from inside the box parried into the path of the left-back who had stayed forward, and his first-time attempt crashed against the outside of the post.

Feyenoord began to grow into the game a bit and had a half-chance about 11 minutes before the interview with a break down Milan’s left side ending with a low cross that was met by a snapshot over the bar from Redmond.

Wellenreuther was tested again a few minutes before the interval and again it was Joao Felix who was found on the edge of the box with time to turn and fire, though the goalkeeper again met it with a firm parry.

Not long after that, Leao was found by a wonderful ball from Joao Felix over the shoulder of the full-back Read, which he brought down brilliantly and managed to get off a shot from close quarters that was well stopped in the end.

Milan started the second half on the front foot and twice had Feyenoord scrambling. Firstly Leao sent Theo through to the byline and his cut-back was cleared by a desperate sliding challenge, then when the ball came back into the box Walker’s rocket was claimed by Wellenreuther.

In the 52nd minute, the referee Marciniak made a huge call in the scheme of the game as he sent Theo Hernandez off for a second yellow card. Leao once again sent a ball through to his overlapping run but the Frenchman flung himself to the floor suggesting he had been fouled, yet he was judged to have simulated and was given his marching orders.

After an initial spell of Feyenoord pressure without so much as a shot on goal, Milan grew into things again and Pulisic perhaps should have tested the goalkeeper more when cutting in on his right foot from the left flank and unleashing a rocket of a shot. Then, a change was made to react to the red card, with Davide Bartesaghi coming on for the American.

Another substitution came from Conceicao with 20 minutes left and it was Gimenez who was withdrawn for Youssouf Fofana. It saw Felix move up into a false nine position, with the coach clearly wanting to keep the weapon of Leao’s pace on the break.

The worst nightmare became reality in the 74th minute as Feyenoord equalised on the night and re-took the lead on aggregate. A pinpoint cross from the right by Bueno found Carranza, who had nestled between Pavlovic and Bartesaghi, and was able to head in from close range.

A couple of minutes after Thiaw had headed a teasing free-kick from Reijnders into the arms of Wellenreuther, Samuel Chukwueze and Tammy Abraham were brought on for Reijnders and Musah.

Milan huffed and puffed towards the end, launching cross after cross into the box and hoping for something to fall, but it never did and the jeers at full-time said everything.