Paulo Fonseca is once again deserving of credit for the choices that he made during AC Milan’s 3-1 victory over Club Brugge, a report has claimed.
This morning’s edition of Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews) has their analysis of the game at San Siro last night, remarking that Milan are finally off the mark in the Champions League despite a less than stellar performance.
Fonseca’s team managed to beat Brugge and capture their first victory, and how the victory came about is of little importance, even if it will be the subject of discussion and analysis around Milanello in these days leading up to Saturday’s match at the Dall’Ara against Bologna.
The end result is not only down to the players on the pitch – who nevertheless gave themselves a major wake-up call after the visitors drew level with 10 men – but also to the head coach, who was courageous and correct in the decisions he made during the match.
To avoid any kind of underestimation, the Portuguese had decided to rely on his best team from the first minute, with Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez starting again on their respective flanks after their absence against Udinese. The two were far from terrible, it must be said, but Ruben Loftus-Cheek struggled a bit and came off.
In place of the winger and the attacking midfielder it was Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze who came on, and both were decisive with two assists for the surprising brace by Tijjani Reijnders. In short, Fonseca was right once again in his choices.
It was almost as if he wanted to demonstrate and confirm that the geopolitics around the red and black Milan has changed, and that a different Milan can really exist compared to the one we have learned to know over the years.
The paper conclude that fans and the media must give credit to the former Lille manager, who was good at being able to understand and interpret the way that the game was going, tweaking things and getting instant rewards.