AC Milan’s trip to Tuscany was a worthwhile one in the end as they returned with three points thanks to a 2-0 win over Empoli on Saturday night.
All of the drama came in an action-packed second 45 minutes, starting with Fikayo Tomori seeing red for two yellow cards and then Luca Marianucci getting his marching orders for a kick-out at Santiago Gimenez.
Rafael Leao gave Milan the lead with a header at the far post after Christian Pulisic’s deep cross, then Pulisic teed up Gimenez for his first goal since arriving, a finish that showed why he is the €35m man. Below are the best stats from the game.
A dominant stat line
The numbers below would have you think that Milan fully dominated the game against Empoli and while that was not the case, it does provide some perspective as to the quality of the chances created and the danger generated.
Milan had 62% of the ball, a higher Expected Goals tally, three big chances to zero for the home side, double the total shots, five shots on target to Empoli’s zero and triple the amount of corners.
Santi starts with a bang
Santiago Gimenez became the first Mexican player to score for Milan in Serie A history; overall, the third in the top league (after Hirving Lozano and Johan Vásquez).
All five of Rafael Leão’s goals this Serie A season have been scored away; among players who have scored all their goals away from home this season, none have as many as the Portuguese.
Milan have kept a clean sheet in their last five league games against Empoli, only against Pisa do they have an equally long open streak of consecutive clean sheets in Serie A (five between 1988 and 1991).
Captain Clutch and the enigma
We simply must highlight the impact of the Player of the Match off the bench: Christian Pulisic. Of course he got the two assists, getting two in a single Serie A match for the first time in the top league, but there were more impressive numbers too.
He had a 92% pass completion rate with 11/12, he won both of the two tackles he attempted, two ground duels out of three, had one recovery and 19 touches of the ball.
Joao Felix’s performance meanwhile was enigmatic. He was at the heart of the danger created in the first half and also in the second but couldn’t add to the goal he got in midfield against Roma.
He had 53 touches across his 84 minutes, with 20/26 passes completed (77%), four shots off target (one on), two big chances missed, nine ground duels won (out of 16) and 17 times possession lost.
People need to look at Felix’s stats and not be dazzled by a back heel. No goals, no assists, loss a little under half of his duels, lost the ball 17 times, and completed 77% of passes. I admit, I’ve never been a Felix fan and yesterday to me sums up his last 2-3 years. He needs to toughen up and stop trying to be the next Ronaldo. There maybe a good player there. I suspect this is his last chance to prove it.
Typical out of context stat-based nonsense analysis that doesn’t capture a single iota of his performance yesterday. God forbid our most creative player in midfield who will attempt the most passes, through-balls, etc (especially in that horrible first half) only managing 77% pass completion. It must’ve been a shocking performance.
I think what people ACTUALLY need to do is watch the performance and watch him play and then base their judgment on that, and not be ”dazzled” by stats.
Maybe people just want to see Krunic passing the ball back to MM16 every time he gets the ball instead of the creativity of Felix (who has the skills AND courage to try break the defenses)??? I dunno. I’m thrilled to have a creative player in the squad after a decade of low-level backpassers.
Yeah the stats are ugly, and I was thinking along the same lines as you until I rewatched the game. His play just drips class, and he really made things happen. There’s no denying his quality, and he doesn’t have to be our best player. To have someone of his quality as our 5th or 6th best player is huge.
First half selection was horrible and Felix still manage to keep his head above the water ,that lad is quality give it to him,I blame the coach ,I want the coach to always field Felix same time with leao ,pulisic and Gimenez and u will see that lad do wonders ..my best formation still remains 4-2-3-1 to accommodate our talents