Chelsea 3-0 AC Milan: Three things we learned – the time for evaluations is over

AC Milan were beaten 3-0 in their penultimate preseason friendly of the summer by Chelsea in Indonesia, and it wasn’t pretty.

A look at the stats tells the story, as Milan failed to register a shot on target while Chelsea racked up seven ‘big chances’. It was scoreless until added time in the first half, but the floodgates opened as Joao Pedro scored twice and Moises Caicedo volleyed in another before the 50th minute.

Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!

Interestingly, Ruben Amorim admitted after the game that he knew the Rossoneri would struggle as a result of the high-press approach, also stating that decisions are coming regarding personnel. The line-up(s) used were experimental, with the starters generally spread over the two halves.

So, with that context in mind, what exactly can we take from Milan’s first defeat of preseason and the way that it came about? We have three conclusions.

1. The time is up

This one is obvious, but it needs saying. If Amorim’s ‘evaluation period’ was still ongoing for this game, we hope that he learned a lot about the current make-up of his squad and more importantly the players he cannot rely on.

Thinking that Gonçalo Ramos and Mario Gila could be enough to complete this team would be extremely dangerous. The squad currently remains too large in terms of numbers (with over 30 players) but is short on starter-level players for his complex 3-4-2-1.

The management must therefore shift gears less than a month before the transfer window closes. We keep hearing about how ‘sales are necessary’ which is correct, given the overcrowded squad and several players unsuitable for Amorim’s demands.

Yet, we are at the point now where the necessity to cut players cannot preclude the addition of reinforcements in areas of need. At least one centre-back is required that can pass the ball well, a quality wing-back is a must, and an attacking midfielder is clearly on the shopping list.

Now the question must be pointed in the direction of Gerry Cardinale, who promised to back Amorim: how many more friendlies will it take for them to understand that this group of players risk wasting a year if the Portuguese coach’s ideas cannot be implemented.

2. A worrying over-reliance

Luka Modric got the start in midfield alongside the young Christian Comotto, and just like in his cameo off the bench against Inter, it was clear that the Croatian is still very much a class above.

He completed 21/25 passes against Chelsea, including 100% in Milan’s half. His volley was the only time that the Rossoneri really threatening in the first half, and his 30 touches were the most of any starter from the defence forwards.

Modric also racked up five recoveries, a clearance, a ground duel won and was not dribbled past once. In short, he may be turning 41 soon, but the former Real Madrid star is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down.

With this though comes a rather worrying realisation: Milan and Amorim will continue to rely heavily on Modric, perhaps a bit too much given his age and the fact he is a solution for 2026-27 only. The hope is Ardon Jashari will step up, and in time Comotto can take the reins too.

For now, however, it is absolutely obvious that Modric is immovable and indispensable for Amorim’s philosophy of possession-based domination. Nobody in the squad can come close to his technical level, and that might make it easy for opponents to plan ahead.

3. A pointless exercise

This is a more general point, but one cannot help emerging from the game thinking ‘what was the point of it all?’. Every year Milan agree to play friendlies against teams better-equipped or ahead of them in preseason preparations, often of course due to the lucrative commercial aspect.

Despite this, these are games where we are meant to learn things, where all 90 minutes are meant to be useful in some way. Instead, today, Milan competed for around 30 minutes then ran out of steam, and seemed to completely give up at 3-0 down.

Moreover, Amorim once again did his rather intriguing approach of pretty much splitting the starters in half (those available) and then bringing the second bunch on at half-time as part of the eight changes made.

👏 A brilliant tifo in Indonesia ❤️🖤

📸 @CorSport pic.twitter.com/wZ4DJf5YYV

— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) August 8, 2026

With only one more friendly after this, we can’t help but question if this was a good time to give the starting group the full first half together, in the most competitive conditions, so they can continue to build chemistry and cohesion together. Maybe against Manchester United we will see that.

That said, we will end with a positive note: the fans. It was a Milan-heavy crowd at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium and they made lots of noise throughout, with the Curva-inspired chants picked up on the broadcast microphones.

The tifo shown before kick-off was incredible in design and scale. That, in a nutshell, is why the club does it. It’s just a shame they didn’t even have a shot on target to get excited about.