AC Milan’s chances of a top four finish were dealt a big blow on Friday night as they were beaten 2-1 by Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium.
The first goal of the game went to Charles De Ketelaere as he headed in a delivery from a free-kick, though Milan drew level when Alvaro Morata scored from a Rafael Leao cross.
When it looked like a draw was on the cards, Ademola Lookman popped up at the far post to tap in a header from a cross and continue Atalanta’s brilliant run.
The result means that Milan have now gone 12 points behind their Lombardy neighbours, and the Scudetto dream is definitely gone before the end of 2024.
Rather unsprurisingly, Paulo Fonseca made eight changes from the team that beat Sassuolo in the cup in midweek, bringing back in the likes of Mike Maignan, Theo Hernandez, Matteo Gabbia, Christian Pulisic and Alvaro Morata.
Milan could have taken the lead after just 13 seconds when a ball in behind the Atalanta defence was met by the diagonal run of Christian Pulisic. In a very similar way to Davide Calabria’s opener in 2022-23 his run went unchecked, but he fired straight at the goalkeeper Carnesecchi.
The home side took the lead with the next chance of the game and it came through a rather predictable source: Charles De Ketelare. A free-kick taken from the left wing by De Roon was met by the head of the Belgian, who headed in at the back post with Maignan well beaten.
In the 22nd minute, Milan drew themselves back on level terms with what was a wonderful goal. Theo Hernandez threaded the ball through to Leao down the left side and he played a brilliant ball across the six-yard box that was hammered home first time by Morata.
The home side could have got back in front in minute 24 when Maignan made a smart stop to stop Bellanova’s right-footed shot from close range.
There was a concerning sign for Milan in the 38th minute as Pulisic pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury, and Fonseca brought on Ruben Loftus-Cheek to replace him.
The second half descended into a real tactical battle in which it seemed as though Atalanta were happy to let Milan have the ball and try to bait them with the press, hoping to catch them off guard in transition.
In the 75th minute, the Rossoneri had an opportunity to get themselves in front when the substitute Loftus-Cheek did well to get to the right byline and cut a ball back to Musah, who fired wide from inside the box.
A second substitution came for Milan in the 78th minute when Morata came off and was replaced by Tammy Abraham.
Just as it looked like the game was filtering out towards a draw, Atalanta stole it at the death. A corner in the 87th minute was flicked on by Kolasinac and buried by Ademola Lookman at the far post.
Maignan made a great save in the second of five minutes added at the end of the 90 minutes to deny Mateo Retegui after he had been put through on goal, but the hosts would claim all three points.
Atalanta looks real mature. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they go all the way this season.
well if anyone is gonna win it besides of us which seems increasingly to be the case then why not them, gasperinis years with them deserves a scudetto to his tenure.
Maturity comes also in coach mentality. Who changes six players in such critical game??
Milan cant get back to top with middle class inconsistent coachs.
You need Top Coach for such results. No mediocre solution.
Think Jorge Klopp level nothing less.
Because gasperini is a top lvl coach with a top lvl mentality, right?
FONSECA OUT!!!!!!!
I side with you….. what was the coach doing when Musa was tired and Chukueze at the bench. This coach dey bore me paaaa ooooo. You wait till you’re loosing before you make substitution.
no pulisic no party
Yep. The attack died when Puli limped off. The true MVP of the club.
Fonseca piece of c*rap!!!
I haven’t once asked Fonseca to be sacked but anyone who insists on playing R.Emerson from match to match deserves to be sacked. FFS. The worst RB of the league this decade. By a mile. No questions about it.
Totally agree Emerson is the worst RB I have ever seen! Disastreous class player… so his teammate on the left side has the same level since the start of the season, I don’t deservea pay rise of 6 M€!
Emerson was one of the best today
No he was defending air in that 2nd goal
Thiaw was in the middle and should have cut out the ball. Lookman was beyond the Far Post and Thiaw was in the middle.
😀 :D: 😀 😀 😀 😀 :D: 😀 😀 😀
Thanks! I really needed the laughs! 😀
What made him the best? The embarrassing dives he showed time after time? The one where he for no reason at all put the ball out the sideline and dived begging for a freekick to save him from further embarrassment? Or how he defended in the winning goal? Or the million times when he COULD have played the ball forward (e.g. to RLC when he ran to the box) but decided to pass backwards? Or how the literally stopped EVERY Milan attack and waited until the Atalanta players got back in formation and then passed the ball backwards?
many situations, but as an example maybe the save in overtime after sprinting 50 meters. Calabria would have been nowhere near that ball with his ‘speed’.
One decent deed doesn’t make up for the million mistakes. It’s the same as people would praise Hitler for being an awesome leader and wonderful human being as he was the man behind Volkswagen.
He was the best clown today, absolutely 🤣
To be fair, Theo is no better. And he’s been like this all season long. We still haven’t figured out the alternative, we even give him the captaincy.
So yeah, more reason to sack that Fonscam.
A player in a wheelchair can defend the far post better then Theo and Emerson. They have now cost us at least 8 points in the league (Parma, Cagliari and Atalanta).
And Fonseca will just go on doing the same retarded shit with the same players in game after game hoping something will change.
There is nothing positive about this squad and this coach for the future.
Such a cowardish performance organized by a cowardish strategy.
Any coach in his right senses wud nt play Emerson royal..that guy didn’t fit to b a footballer..unfortunately is in ac milan starting line up. Fonseca is jst a second version of Pioli
At least, with Pioli we finished second. Speaking for myself, with this record I am afraid we will finish on the bottom half of the league table
We would’ve won if we put on Chuk instead of RLC who NEEDS to be sold ASAP. IN my opinion, Chuk was positive in the few minutes he had.
Just because Fonseca won the Derby. He stayed until now.
Damn management. You are just destroying this Club!
Their target is not the scudetto. But just playing in the UCL is good. But not if you look at the standings. The stars will leave at the end of the season.
you expert on standings. look at the premier league and tell me which disastrous manager coaches Man City to 4th place?
Emerson and Musah. What a legendary duo at the right flank !!! 😄 🤣
Legends. GOATS. Emerson will be awarded with the RB of the Century award any day now.
Any chance Kevin Constant would come back? He’d be a massive upgrade over Emerson.
He’d be an upgrade over Musah too. For sure.
now we should do 20 points in the next 7 league games to come close again.
Pioli won one scudetto. He managed each year to reach Champions League spot, and one time not (Juventus ban), but also he reached semi finals UCL.
And then they bring Fonseca. Pioli should get chance in last year of contract to lead Milan with some new players.
We can imagine that he would not win the league, but I think he would be able to compete for 4th position.
This way Milan is already finished product. After champions league knock out exit, we will watch battle for 7th spot.
Nah. Pioli had to go. They fed up with the succession tho..happens more often than not in football world Imao
Once our painfully mediocre coach said in the press conference that he has never played for a draw, I was 100% sure that 1) we will settle for a draw and that 2) we will lose. The circus is becoming predictable.
With Pulisic out, Leao losing his interest and “The GOAT Duo” dominating the right flank, the signs were there. We were destined to lose.
overall not a bad performance. we need to defend these set pieces – Atalanta had nothing else.
This Atalanta team is actually a lot better than us.
I don’t think we played badly.
It looked as if EVERY Atalanta player was faster, stronger and more skillful. They really made Milan-players look like amateurs. And it didn’t hurt that they played as a team instead of acting individual primadonnas.
Tomori-Thiaw (win V Madrid)
Tomori-Gabbia (win V Inter)
Gabbia-Thiaw (draw v Juve, loss v Atalanta)
Maybe Fonseca should figure out which pairing is actually the best here and USE it.
You’re a troll, right?
Nope, dead serious.
Only fools would think that Gabbia-Thiaw would work against Atalanta. They had nobody to go out and challenge their forwards for the ball. Gabbia and Thiaw were reactive, not proactive, and that led to the team being pushed back into their own half by Atalanta’s attack.
If you want to ease the pressure , you have to have someone go and CHALLENGE for the ball.
Against lesser teams who don’t press and have poor finishing, like Empoli, you can get away with Gabbia-Thiaw. Against bigger teams, you need a defender to step up and duel.
Nah.. the cbs did a good job last night. The pivot was the one that crumbled and the fullbacks. And the wingers.
When morata is playing rb and dm you know you won’t score goals. And you need to score to win, yes?
I’m with you here. CBs did well. It was both flanks that cost us the game. Neither Theo or Emerson can defend and that is costing us sooooo many points. At least Theo can attack (every now and then) but what is Emerson’s contribution to the team? And don’t say “he’s 100x faster than Calabria”.
best and tough buy “Emerson Royal”
We only paid like 95% overprice for him. Must be a record. Is he really even worth 1-2M€? I honestly don’t think so.
Milan tried, Atalanta with Lookman and their defensive setup can beat any team this season. I personally tip them to win both scudetto and champions league.