AC Milan fired themselves top of their Champions League group for the time being as they beat Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 at San Siro on Wednesday evening.
Milan found it quite difficult to break the deadlock as they were met with a resolute deep block from the away side, but they did take the lead from the penalty spot when Olivier Giroud converted after Rafael Leao had been fouled.
Early in the second half a header from Alexis Saelemaekers doubled the advantage and the game looked to already be well in control, but danger man Orsic got his 11th goal of the season to halve the deficit for Dinamo.
The game was put to bed late on and it came through a memorable moment as Tommaso Pobega fired home from inside the box, and the result moves Milan top of Group E while waiting for the result between Chelsea and Red Bull Salzburg.
Stefano Pioli decided to make four changes to the team that triumphed against Sampdoria on Saturday as Fikayo Tomori, Ismael Bennacer, Alexis Saelemaekers and Brahim Diaz all regained their spots in the side.
Milan were dominant in the opening exchanges of the game as they had the lion’s share of possession and look for openings in the Dinamo defence. The first chance came in the sixth minute as a first time cross from Alexis Saelemaekers on the half volley met the head of Sandro Tonali who couldn’t keep his effort down.
The next attempt came from Olivier Giroud as the veteran striker fought hard to win the ball back just outside the edge of the box, firing with his left foot but curling it over the bar.
The match very quickly settled into a pattern whereby Milan tried to play through the away side with passing combinations and a mixture of crosses, and then Dinamo would recover the ball and try counter at speed.
There was a big chance to make it 1-0 for the Rossoneri in the 20th minute when Brahim Diaz did fantastically to win the ball back near the touchline and fire a long ball over the top for Rafael Leao, who took the ball down in his stride and was bearing down on goal but a wonderful challenge by Moharrami denied him.
Ismael Bennacer drew a reaction stop from Livakovic moments later with a shot from just over 20 yards out that swerved late and forced him to parry frantically to his left.
The away side provided a reminder of the threat that they can pose on the counter as the ball was spread over to the right wing-back Moharrami, who cut back in onto his left foot drifting past Theo Hernandez and forcing a save from Maignan.
Milan had three chances around the half hour mark that were squandered. The first saw Giroud head straight into the goalkeeper’s hands from a Theo cross, the second was a shot well over from Brahim when he should have done better and the third was Leao missing from a narrow angle after a pinpoint cross found him on the volley.
The danger man for Dinamo heading into the game was undoubtedly Orsic who already has 10 goals this season, and he curled just wide of the far post in the 35th minute much to the relief of the outstretched Maignan.
In the closing stages of the first half, Milan were given the chance to take the lead from the spot as a clumsy challenge from Sutalo saw him take out Leao just as he was receiving the ball. Just as he did on Saturday, Giroud took on the responsibility, and it was the same outcome as he buried it bottom right.
Less than two minutes into the second half, Milan doubled their lead with a quite simply brilliant team move. Some great hold up play and interchange involving Giroud and Brahim Diaz saw Leao fed down the left, and his pinpoint cross met the run across goal by Saelemaekers who headed home from close range with aplomb.
The two-goal lead would not last for long though as Dinamo Zagreb halved the deficit in the 55th minute. A nice exchange in the penalty area between Orsic and Petkovic saw the former receive a pass deep inside the box and finish past Maignan, while the entirety of Milan’s defence caught flat-footed.
A double change came for Milan bang on the midway point of the second half as Giroud and Tonali made way for Charles De Ketelaere and Tommaso Pobega.
As the game moved inside the final 15 minutes, Milan re-established their two-goal lead in what was an incredible moment for Pobega. A lovely passing move saw the ball worked down the left flank to Theo, who cut the ball back into the path of the midfielder and he smacked it home first time in off the crossbar.
A triple substitution followed to inject some fresh legs with the aim of closing the game out as Sergino Dest, Rade Krunic and Junior Messias came on for Bennacer, Brahim Diaz and Saelemaekers.
One of the worrying things: how Tomori and Kalulu aggressively marked and chased the same player left a hole lead to a goal. And it’s not the first time (this season). Not a popular opinion, but never been a fan of the duet. Their character are just too identical. Kessie’s role helped a lot last season, we’re pretty easy to conceed nowadays.
Kessie sure helped with his red cards and flopping about in the middle half the time
stop overrating him
Just look at his numbers and average position last season. Not overrating in anyway, just spitting facts.
Yeah I looked at the matches WHOLE of last season unlike you
i dont live by numbers and stats, they dont tell the whole story, sooner you realise that the better
Surely i do watch all matches last season. Just like I do for many many years. Been a Milan fan since ’98 (hope you’re already born) so please do not tell me how to judge a player and not getting biased by it.
Kessié helped us in many games last season. There were occasions when he played all over the field with a great work rate and was the MOTM. I do miss him, but I don’t blame him for leaving on a free transfer; he is a professional player and he’s looking after his own career. That’s perfectly OK given that unlike Çalhanoglu, he never issued disparaging comments about Milan after leaving. I miss him given his defensive midfielder skills which we haven’t fully replaced yet, but I don’t obsess about him; he’s now in our past. But to disparage him like you’re doing is very ungrateful, frankly. Some red cards, some flopping? Most players do it from time to time. I don’t feel that he was an habitual simulator. If someone is looking disgruntled about Kessié, it’s you, not Ibrahim Bra above.
hahahahahaha yeah right
We are literally playing better this season and our play looks much more fluid without having someone like Kessie messing up the flow but hey must overrate him right because ‘He help us in so many games so I will just ignore the 20 other games he sucked at’
You are judging Kessie literally of 1 game vs Atletico.
That’s the only red card he got that whole season.
And he only had 2 yellow cards in serie A in 38 or whatever number of matches he played in.
Yes offensively Milan looks more in flow without Kessie, he was never good with the ball at his feet.
But defensively he is very much missed. Milan is leaking goals this year mostly because the double pivot duo is usually out of position.
Kessie was very good player at Milan & just because he left doesn’t mean you should talk trash about him. He gave his best every time he stepped on the field. He had limited skill set but he always put the effort
Has nothing to do with Kalulu or Tomori. It’s Kessie that’s missing. He would have been there to fill the gaps. We haven’t replaced him. Bennacer and Tonali can play at times like him but Kessie’s awareness defensively is much better. Plus the pass was just incredible,. couldn’t do much more tbh
FFS! Kessie is gone. Let it go. We play with the players we have and adapt the system to them. I agree with Ibrahim. Kalulu and Tomori are too similar. The answer? Maybe reintroduce Tomoro-Kjaer. Kjaer will act as the cover, allowing Tomori to be the stopper without leaving gabs. Simple. Or Kalulu-Kjaer. Same. We’ll need to use all of them anyway due to the large number of games.
Kjaer is too slow for the modern game and especially the UCL. Fast CBs who can man mark are they key
That’s the thing. Either we replace, or we adapt. Tomori and Kalulu play exactly the same way thinking there’ll be someone to back them up everytime they do that aggressive chase. That’s why I personally prefer Kjaer to be paired with Kalulu / Tomori
You still Cant you get over kessie leaving us for barca on a free. pathetic
If you read calmly, you’ll know my point is on how we (usually) play. Kessie just happened to be one of the players on the coach’s strategy last season. Looks like it’s you who are still mad about him leaving free. Cool down kid.
Can’t tell if the comment is for Ibrahim or me but I’ll point this out here and elsewhere that we haven’t replaced Kessie. It’s just a simple fact. All these complaints about why goals are being scored is precisely why Kessie is in discussion….again…who we haven’t replaced. I don’t care about him going to Barca, I care about why he hasn’t been replaced
That was a lovely goal though, very
well worked by Zagreb. I like those two
at the back, but with this schedule, we
will see plenty of Kjær as well.
ALL… and I mean ALL the attacks happened from Left. Leao basically created ALL three of the chances. The only time right side looked somewhat okayish is after Dest came on but no threat from there naturally as Dest in new. A new RW is a must in the Winter Window.
Team looked much better after Pobega came on.
Very well played by the team. The defense of DZ was packed tight and literally they parked the bus, but we got the goals and the much needed 3 points.
It’s gonna be hard for Chelsea to deal with Salzburg. So hopefully we will be able to win the group stage.
Forza Milan.
It’s really unbelievable that we’ve just won our first home UCL match in almost a decade and against the group leader and people are STILL bitching and critizing.
Why is it unbelievable? We are serie A champs. It’s natural that we will win. Losing would’ve been unbelievable.
Just take a day off from the complaining dude. You can complain the rest of the week.
There’s always room to improve, right? 😉 Unless it’s solely a harsh subjective little-kid minded comment that’s usually targetted to a certain player. Oh and with that kind of game we just played, we won’t go far in UCL that’s for sure
Yeah there is and if you havent noticed we play much better this season with the duo of Tonali-Benncaer than your favourite Kessie
would it really be unreasonable to say a BIG F u to everyone consistently bashing our players and coach and disbelieving our project, I THINK NOT.
Good win.
Unpopular Opinion:
Theo has been incredible so far this season. Arguably no goal has been conceded from the left this season. He has been solid so far, dude has improved a lot.
Why unpopular? Theo is our most consistent player, never tired, always helping the offense, playing well almost every game, making few mistakes, and defending better than last year. He is one of our best players. I don’t see why recognizing him as a very good player might be seen as unpopular opinion at all. Theo is great! His only shortcoming is that he is too hotheaded and gets in trouble with refs. Pioli and captain Calabria need to calm him down. Today he was calm, which makes him play even better.
So I’ve noticed today when we attacked on the left with Theo and Leao, there were usually 4 people defending in that region. We probably have the best left side in Europe.
Just got to add my bit ,and that is that when Olivier Giroud starts we will very rarely lose any match ,no matter who we play against …great penalty and worked hard ,but should have done better with a opportunity very early on in the match ..I thought rafael leao was the man of the match ,involved in all three goals ..I thought we were quite comfortable throughout the match ,I also thought that pogbega did very well when he came on .A great result ,and good to see substitutions been brought on .Well done stefano pioli ,,a truly great coach ..it’s Napoli next .
Bring it on its AC Milan for me.