AC Milan eased to their seventh consecutive win in a row, much to the delight of the San Siro crowd, with a 3-0 dismantling of 10-man Lecce on Saturday afternoon.
The game seemed destined to be heading one way from the early stages of the game, as Milan scored within six minutes after a lovely strike from Christian Pulisic on the edge of the box. It only took 13 minutes for the Rossoneri to double their lead, doing so through Olivier Giroud.
Lecce’s hopes were put to bed in the dying embers of the first half when Krstovic was given his marching orders for a high challenge on Samuel Chukwueze. Milan’s third of the game came through Rafael Leao, following a swift counter-attack.
Juventus are yet to play, but the Diavolo sit nine points clear of them in second and 16 points clear of fifth-placed AS Roma, with seven games left to play, meaning Champions League football could be confirmed within the next few games.
Changes were expected before the game, and Stefano Pioli named four changes to the side that beat Fiorentina 2-1 last weekend. With Ruben Loftus-Cheek suspended, Pulisic was elected to start as the side’s Trequartista. Malick Thiaw’s injury meant that Matteo Gabbia came into central defence, and with Ismael Bennacer not fully recovered, Yacine Adli took his place in midfield. Finally, Theo Hernandez returned after serving his suspension.
The game immediately started with some action, as Hernandez was unleashed down the left-hand side. However, he was flagged offside.
Lecce responded instantly with an attack of their own, though, and Milan were lucky to not fall behind. The visitors piled men into the Rossoneri’s box and failed to clear their lines on more than one occasion. Eventually, the ball fell to Gonzalez whose attempt clipped the outside of the post.
From this moment on, the game seemed to show that goals were going to happen, and just three minutes later, the Diavolo took the lead. In his second consecutive start, filled with confidence, Chukwueze drove down the right touchline and into the box, taking on a few Lecce players in the process, before finding Pulisic on the edge of the box. The American then dispatched a lovely curling attempt into the far corner past the flailing Falcone.
A few minutes later, Pulisic went close to finding the net for the second time. Leao drove down the left-hand side and then into the box, and the ball eventually came to Theo, who found the American with a cross, he almost doubled his and Milan’s tally with a header, but Falcone pulled off a save to keep the deficit at one goal.
As the game progressed, so did Chukwueze, and it is fair to say that the Nigerian winger is looking much more like the player Milan bought in the summer – he consistently offered himself as an option and looked dangerous when driving down the line.
The Rossoneri doubled their lead just before the 20th minute through Giroud. Adli delivered a beautiful inswinging corner into the near post, and his fellow Frenchman broke free from his marker and glanced the ball into the far corner of the net.
Lecce looked to reply quickly and had two chances to do so. The first was from Gonzalez, whose header left Mike Maignan flat-footed in the middle of the goal, and his attempt crashed off the bar. Minutes later, Krstovic had a chance from the edge of the box, and Fikayo Tomori did well to pressure him, and whilst the Englishman could not prevent him from shooting, Maignan was equal to it.
If Milan’s two goals were not a dagger blow to Lecce’s chances, Krstovic’s red card certainly was. A few minutes after his latest chance, the ball was crossed into Milan’s box, and Krstovic attempted to reach the ball in the air. However, instead of connecting with the ball, his boot collided with Chukwueze, and there were no doubts from the referee as the red card was shown.
The start of the second half followed the same trend as the first half, with the Rossoneri looking to cause danger down the wings – Leao and Chukwueze both looked bright in the early stages of the half.
Giroud almost doubled his tally 10 minutes into the second half, following a magnificent cross from Davide Calabria. Chukwueze slipped the captain down the right-hand side, and he immediately looked to find the veteran striker in the box, Giroud connected but his chance was saved by Falcone.
Milan’s third of the afternoon was the result of a great counter attack. Lecce entered the box through Almqvist, who was brought down. However, the referee continued the game, and the visitors were caught asleep. Adli found Leao storming into the Lecce half, and after no challenge from the defender, the 24-year-old slotted the ball past Falcone.
Shortly after the goal, Pioli opted to make three changes: Simon Kjaer for Gabbia, Yunus Musah for Pulisic, and Jovic replaced Giroud – the Frenchman was later seen with an icepack on his knee, which could be a cause of concern.
Following his goal, the Portuguese winger again looked to strike fear into the visitor’s defence. He spun away from the first man, and after a few step-overs, he was brought down in the middle of the pitch. Hernandez couldn’t test Falcone from the resulting free-kick, though.
Lecce’s best chance of the afternoon came from Almqvist following a swift counter-attack, he entered the box and attempted a low shot, but Maignan made an easy save.
10 minutes from full-time, Pioli made Milan’s fourth change of the afternoon, bringing on Ismael Bennacer, who did not recover in time to start this game, into the midfield for Tijjani Reijnders.
Chukwueze again looked to create for the Diavolo, picking up the ball on the edge of the box, and he tried a clever reverse pass into the path of Luka Jovic, but the Serbian could not lift the ball over Falcone.
Pioli’s final change of the afternoon was to replace Theo with Filippo Terracciano, after another impressive display from the Frenchman.
That’s the type of win we should be able to expect!
Good game again from Chukweze.
I believe with this development, Leao’ consistency will come up better.
Having Chukweze up his game and Pulisic still delivering as usual, this is a great competition within the team.
As for Musah and Bennecer, they both should up their games, else.
Nice to see Chuks playing 90 minutes. He was involved a lot today. Great assist, great game.
Chukwueze’s increasing confidence is a joy for the team. Everyone hitting top confidence and performance is what we expect.
The 433 formation messed up Milan’s season big time.
not really. If you took the time to go look at W,D & L for 433 you’d known whats what.
I’ll take a minute and enlighten you.
433. W9 D1 L2.
4231 W11 D4 L2
442 L1
343 W1
enlightened?
From your analysis, 3-4-3 gave Milan 100% win ratio, hence it’s the best for Milan.
You see how your analysis is flawed?