Having lost to Juventus last week, AC Milan were in a desperate need of three points to keep up with the top four race, and they got them in dramatic fashion against Parma.
With Juventus and Bologna dropping points on Saturday it was a must-win match, the type that Milan have regularly messed up this season. Matteo Cancellieri’s opener quietened the San Siro crowd, though Christian Pulisic converted a penalty kick to make it 1-1 at the break.
Sergio Conceicao then decided to sub off both Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez despite the situation of the game, perhaps to preserve them for the upcoming crucial Champions League game against Dinamo Zagreb and Inter in the derby next week.
Milan struggled to create chances and Parma again grabbed the lead in the 80th minute through Enrico Del Prato, and it looked like they were going to not only claim a win but also the league double over the Rossoneri.
Strahinja Pavlovic had a goal disallowed in the 89th minute due to an offside, but that didn’t discourage the home side as they finally got the equaliser in the 92nd minute through Tijjani Reijnders, converting from Yunus Musah’s through ball.
In the 95th minute, Pavlovic won a header in the opponent’s box and send the ball towards Samuel Chukwueze who bundled past Zion Suzuki to spark scenes of jubilation. There was even room for a confrontation at full-time, while below are five things we learned from the game.
1. The weakest link
Theo Hernandez played a poor game against Girona and continued the negative trend against Parma too. While it was a bit unlucky that he slipped on the first goal it was him again that was the main culprit for Milan conceding.
The fact that the left-back was able to get up and get back in position means that he is still very much to blame. Once again it was all too easy for the opposition winger to get onto their favoured foot and shoot from the edge of the box, a trend we cannot believe the team haven’t adjusted to.
After that, Theo failed to react appropriately as he contributed little going forward and was shaky at the back, giving the ball away carelessly on a couple of occasions. The Frenchman was subbed off at half-time, so overall it was a pretty bad display.
He will need to improve a lot in the coming games against Dinamo Zagreb and Inter if Milan are to walk away from both games with six points. If Theo (and Leao) are not at the races, they instantly have a low ceiling to their performance levels, such is their importance.
2. Going nowhere
There have been multiple rumours suggesting that Pavlovic could be heading for an early exit following his limited playing time since arriving in the summer from Red Bull Salzburg, with Fenerbahce and Stuttgart linked.
Since those rumours surfaced Conceicao has given the Serbian two chances in the line-up, one against Girona where he performed well to secure a clean sheet, and now against Parma where he won the MOTM in our post-game ratings.
Pavlovic was a rock at the back as he made multiple crucial interceptions and was truly the pillar of that defence. On top of that he seems to have improved in possession, both his passing and runs forward looking much better in the past two games.
On top of that he was an aerial threat in the opposition box after he was instructed to stay there in the final minutes of the game. It resulted in a disallowed goal for him after a lovely header and then on his second attempt he got an assist for the winning goal.
You can’t ask for more from a centre-back; a penalty won, a crucial assist plus several key interceptions and tackles at the back to help his side grab all three points. If it was an audition of sorts, he passed with flying colours.

3. Stars and stripes
Musah and Pulisic had mixed performances, even though both of them contributed in the win. Pulisic of course netted the equaliser through the penalty kick, but then being a bit of a ghost prior and after that moment.
The former Chelsea man has been pivotal for Milan with his goals and assists, but he does seem to struggle down the right flank as he just can’t seem to beat his man and create dangerous chances, especially against a low block.
He was better on the left towards the end of the game in terms of getting involved, but ultimately he needed to do more in attack, not to mention his was beaten very easily on Parma’s first goal, but his penalty saves him a bit.
Musah also had a rollercoaster performance too. He was a bit sloppy in the first half, but picked up the pace in the second half showing good work rate and providing a lovely assist for Reijnders.
Overall he seems to be improving under Conceicao as he is finally getting more consistent playing time. We can’t help but feel that one of the key things will be nailing down a main position.
4. The big investment is needed
With the performances we saw from both Alvaro Morata and Tamy Abraham yet again, it is no wonder that Milan are hard at work to bring another striker. Santiago Gimenez looks like the most feasible option at this point in time and the deal couldn’t be finished fast enough.
The Spaniard was constantly offside and when he wasn’t he was struggling to combine properly with his team-mates or get a good shot off. We need not repeat this every week, but he is not a player than will ever be prolific nor dominant leading the line.
Abraham was also a ghost after coming on. The Englishman had a couple of chances to carry the ball forward but he just seemed sloppy with his control and surprisingly slow, which resulted in nothing worth mentioning. He has been a game-changer in the past, to his credit, yet today offered little.
Thus a striker like Gimenez – who has been scoring plenty for Feyenoord, including a brace against Bayern Munich in midweek – could be a good solution to the problem. Milan might finally have a threat in the penalty box that has been missing this season, if he were to arrive.
5. Necessary impact
Chukwueze has struggled overall since joining Milan as the most expensive signing last summer and is usually one of the flops of the game when he does make an appearance. This time, though, he deserves his plaudits.
The Nigerian created chances with his determination to get on the ball and make things happen, and was unlucky not to get the assist for Pavlovic’s headed equaliser for which he had strayed a couple of yards offside.
The ex-Villarreal man managed to leave his mark as he was at the right place in the right time to get his goal right at the end and spark rapturous scenes. IT might end up being a crucial goal in the fight for top four and from an unlikely source.
Overall it was a decent display as the winger entered the pitch with the right mindset and worked hard to make the difference. The key thing is that he can: 1) stay fit for a longer stretch and 2) use this as a platform for bigger things.
Morata & Abraham are certainly not performing as well as they should be. The former in particular has become a master of being caught offside, going down and complaining to the referee while the latter can’t score a goal if it isn’t in 1 meter in front of an empty net.
With that in mind, I still think the midfield is a currently a bigger problem and more urgent than the attack. Parma’s midfield had no issues dealing with our own and offensively, aside from few crosses done mostly by Chukwueze, Bartesaghi and Pulisic, we didn’t create any meaningful threat. I’d go further and say that aside from few games, the number of QUALITY chances we have in each game is actually pretty low and that’s on the midfield rather than the attack.
Morata & Abraham were bad, but so were Reijnders, Fofana and Bennacer. Reijnders scored a goal so we can cut him a bit of a slack, but he sometimes looks more like a very deep striker rather than a midfielder. He spoiled some chances we could have gotten because he holds too much onto the ball. Musah looked more or less good today but once again it’s mostly due to sheer athleticism rather than technique or high football IQ.
So what I’m getting at, is that instead of going for a huge deal for Giménez or even Orsolini despite me liking him, I’d rather see us reinforce the midfield. Frendrup, Ricci, Prati,… one or 2 of them would actually cost less that whatever it was rumored we offered for Giménez.
Now with that said, since our strikers are so damn average, I wouldn’t actually mind a new striker, it just that I feels that the midfield is more urgent and would yield better results.
“The weakest link.”
Finally, with Emerson off the pitch, people can actually see clearly.
Oh I’m already loving this new Milan side as I don’t have to stick needles into my eyes to NOT see the horrible, horrible Brazilian do horrible things on the pitch.
Unrelated question: Has there been any stadium updates? Are Milan and Inter considering building separate stadiums? Two neighborhoods being positively impacted (San Donato and Rozzano) are better than one.
https://stadiumdb.com/news/2025/01/europe_real_madrid_earns_three_times_more_from_the_stadium_than_inter_and_milan
A lot of strong individuals but lack of team spirit?
Cardinale, open your fvckin’ wallet haha.
Two things –
1. We could buy Haaland and not see any real change. Target men need to be targeted. Tammy is the symptom, not the cause.
When you consider that our full backs are consistently panned for poor crossing …
We add Walker so we addressed this to some extent. Bartesaghi showed quality in his crosses too. So now we need a mid who can pass the channels reliably.
2. In 4 league games we showed up with a plan and better players.
In 4 league games we got off to a poor start. That is a coaching problem.
Given the exact same was true with Fonzy we can also surmise a player problem in taking aboard instructions and expectations.
This is not changing yet. Our defense has gone back to a sieve. Our patterns of play form then disappear.
Catching a breathe if we can lock down top 8 in UCL will be huge to figure out if Sarge can get his ideas across.
Thank you! This is the most insightful comment I’ve seen on the striker situation. People think it’s a personnel issue with the striker but it’s a team issue. The team needs to create more chances for the strikers.
One thing both the club needs to do immediately is get rid of Calabria, he cannot continue to undermine the Coach, if I am not mistaken, he also had an argument with Fonseca after he was substituted, he should be used as an example, the Coach was right to bring out both Theo and Leao, Barthesagi performed well, but honestly the coach made a mistake in playing Fofana.
Morata should not be starting, he is slow, and sometimes out of sorts.
Abraham,Jovic and Okafor should be given more opportunities, they are all faster and hungrier than Morata.
Another thing the coach needs to do is place Bennacer on the left side of the midfield, with Musa and Reijnders making up a 3 man midfield against inter, then play Pulisuc , Abraham and leao in Attack. against
Idk why conceicao keeps thinking he can tempt fate and win. He played Emerson and now he’s injured and can’t be sold. Stupid. Now he plays fofana when he could easily rest him for the derby, and he gets suspended and will moss the match entirely. Just dumb decisions that seem to stem from stubbornness. He’s made a lot of good decisions since joining, but lazy decisions like this will come back to haunt him
We were put to the sword by a serie b team at san siro. What a disgraceful performance. And we haven’t looked half decent since the second half of Inter. It will take a miracle to reach top 4 because we are really a mediocre mid table team. There’s no escaping it anymore.
The things I learned:
1. If you think our midfield is fine because Bennacer had one good game since coming back from injury – You. Are Delusional. This midfield is thin and overused. Musah is inconsistent and Bennacer is far from the player he once was.
2. Game after game we comment on Morata and Abraham being ghosts. How can anyone argue we don’t need a striker? I would argue we need Gimenez and we need a good Attacking Mid to provide the service.
3. Theo has been poor all season, yet keeps starting. We talk about reinforcing other positions, yet we don’t have a reliable option for Theo. Bartesaghi is not it – he needs to play with Futuro and develop more.
4. The tensions are high at Milan and it’s getting to everyone. Especially Conceicao. But he is the last person who should be worried. He’s on a 6 mo contract with a poorly assembled team. He has good pieces and a lot of sub par quality. And so far there isn’t much help from the mercato.
5. Management continues to baffle me with idiotic decision…
– Why are we overbidding on injury-prone Orsolini?
– Why are we dragging out negotiations for Gimenez with 30mil offers when the Dutch club clearly won’t consider anything below 40mil?
– Where are the midfield reinforcements? What happened to Ricci negotiations?
– Where are we with renewals for Maignan, Theo and Reijnders?
– Why aren’t we looking at a good AM?
– Why is Ibra posting skiing pics before matches during a difficult tie for Milan?
– What happened to the links with Sartori???
More questions than answers…
Orsolini is not injury prone. This is his first major injury in years.
Milan doesn’t need a striker, they need to create for their strikers. I don’t know why people think that strikers are miracle workers. Strikers are play finishers . They need service so they are dependent on those around them to provide.
Bring any top striker in this team and nothing will change if you have fullbacks that can’t cross and inconsistent performances from your star players.
Jiminez is a reliable option for LB. When we played him there he did quite well. Then because of injuries they started playing him as a winger but he is a defender and a more reliable one than Theo.
And who gives a flying f#!ck what pictures Ibra posts. What possible relevance does that have? Do you really think that has any effect on what happens on the pitch?
People get caught up in such nonsense.
Need a CF
need a MF
Need a CB
Need a RB
Need a AM or RW
I’ve always wondered why no coach has considered a 3 atb formation. Clearly Theo sucks at defending and we lack a proper AM. So why not a formation of
Mike
Tomori – Thiaw – Pavlovic
Walker – Fofana- Rejinders – Theo
Pulisic – Abraham – Leao.
This will leave us a more balanced unit rather than insisting on a 4231 with no proper AM and DM
Chukaweze should be given opportunity until end of season to redeem himself. Under Pioli he was never given a proper chance and first season is always hard to adapt to a new league. This season his been better and unlucky for him he got injured when he was having a good game.
As for our CF, they are not up to standards, Morata isnt scoring, Tammy isnt what we need. He can go back to Roma and bring back Saleamakers. He & Chuka provide good cover out wide. We need to invest in CF & CDM. Not based on AI from French/Belgian league but a proven player to help Fofana. We also need 20+ CF. If we finish top 4 we go for Osihmen.
This club is one big mess, that’s what’s going on. Cardinale managed to tear down in one and a half season what Elliott with Maldini built in 3 years.
And before anyone says it’s not ownership, it’s the management. Cardinale is the shot caller. He named these clowns as his executives and they work according to his instructions. Furlani said, they needed to fire Maldini in order for Gerry’s vision to come true.
Here it is, Gerry’s Milan. A generic, fast and cheap entertainment on demand where players are seen as assets first and only then human being.
Well done yank. Well done.
I hope Pavlovic stays. I player of his stature is needed to “rough up” certain opposition.
Some people think Musah is starting to perform now. I say NOW is the time to sell him. Yesterday he reached his peak here. He gave a superb pass to Reijnders who scored. That’s it. Musah will never be able to top that. Or even level it. It was a great pass but we should now sell him as the others might think buying him could be useful. It wouldn’t. The man cannot play and never will be. Sell and buy Ricci. Problem solved. A problem.
Also. What ever you do, DO NOT SELL Pavlovic! A fng legend!
Also… I would have rather lost to Parma than to Inter. Fofana’s yellow card practically guarantees a lost next weekend. We would have had better chances of winning Parma without Fofana than Inter. Now we’re 100% fcked.
Also… Bennacer was absolutely awful. Again. The pass which lead to the Parma goal was fng insane.
No need to get into the Theao thing as I would be labeled as a hater. You simply cannot criticize the uncritizible superstar(s) here. 😀 😀 😀