AC Milan’s 2025 summer preseason has come to an end, and it did so in a far-from-ideal way with a 4-1 defeat against Chelsea.
Rather unsurprisingly, Massimiliano Allegri made 10 changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Leeds United in Dublin on Saturday. However, one of the incoming players – Andrei Coubis – had a nightmare with an early own-goal and a red card.
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Joao Pedro scored in the first half for the Blues and then Liam Delap scored a brace in the second half either side of a goal from Youssouf Fofana. It means that the Rossoneri end preseason with two wins (versus Liverpool and Perth Glory), a draw and two defeats (against Arsenal and Chelsea).
Massimiliano Allegri tried to preach a bit of calm after the game, insisting that the team are working well ahead of the first competitive game of the season in one week. So, what did we learn from the game?
1. The most urgent need
Malick Thiaw might well have started the game at Stamford Bridge, but he is on the verge of a move to Newcastle United for a figure of €40m including bonuses, which left Allegri a bit light at centre-back.
Milan will obviously replace the German, but having played with three central defenders for pretty much the entirety of preseason, we are beginning to question if one new arrival will be enough. At the time of writing, Koni De Winter seems to be closes to joining, from Genoa.
There is now just Fikayo Tomori, Strahinja Pavlovic and Matteo Gabbia present as centre-back options. Tomori was all at sea in his return to west London, and there are question marks about whether Allegri will fully trust the hot-blooded Pavlovic.
If the new boss were to continue playing a three-man defence system, then having four central defenders might not be enough given that a couple of injuries or suspensions could cause a crisis. Andrei Coubis has shown that he is not ready to be promoted yet, while Allegri clearly sees Davide Bartesaghi as a wide player.
What we think the defensive department is missing is an older head, someone experienced and composed, like Simon Kjaer was when he arrived. If that type of profile were to arrive in addition to someone more young like De Winter, it would safeguard things a bit more.
2. Bright at the other end
After the full-time whistle, Allegri remarked to Sky that Milan were actually better a man down, stating: “Paradoxically, today, with 10 men, we performed better; we were more organised.”
The Rossoneri were certainly far more threatening, and while Chelsea may have been committing more men forward to turn it into an attacking training drill, there were some openings created through swift, sharp attacks.
Rafael Leao was the leader of the attacking department again. The Portuguese scored a fantastic header that was ruled out for offside, and he could have had a couple of assists too. In a game where Milan often struggled to get out of their half, he was the obvious outlet.
Leao linked up well with Alexis Saelemaekers, who also never gave up despite the rough start. The Belgian ran a lot, showed creativity and seemed to startle the home defenders with his dribbles. A nice assist for Fofana’s goal rounded off a good outing.
While Leao’s starting spot is nailed down, it will be interesting to see how his play translates presuming that – with everyone available – he moves back to the left. The challenge for Saelemaekers, on the other hand, is to earn a spot in the XI on the other flank.
We must also say that Ruben Loftus-Cheek had some very positive moments too, displaying great speed on the counter-attack and showcasing his athleticism. He could be a bit of a ‘secret weapon’ for Allegri in certain games, even if there is a lot of competition in midfield.
3. Midfield concerns
That last point leads us into the final one, and admittedly this is more of a reflection on where Milan are at right now rather than where they will be in a few weeks.
Samuele Ricci struggled in the first half of the game, often appearing too timid as the home side built pressure. Luka Modric came off the bench in the second half but Allegri admitted he is quite far behind in terms of his condition.
Ardon Jashari got a run-out versus Leeds United and looked fantastic but he too cannot be close to 100% having sat out the entirety of the start of Club Brugge’s season. Loftus-Cheek needs to be physically reliable, while Yunus Musah and Youssouf Fofana showed more bad than good in the friendlies.
So, that all leaves us with a bit of a concern about the middle of the park. With everyone in top condition there is actually a lot of depth and plenty of different combinations that the manager can field.
With Bari, Cremonese and Lecce the first three teams to face – a bit more ‘affordable’ early-season games on paper – there isn’t the need for panic. However, the mission will be to get all the gears clicking by the end of September when Napoli, Juventus, Fiorentina, Atalanta and Roma await in a six-game stretch.
Chelsea played with arguably their strongest team. Even more bolstered than when they played the Club WC final. I am fine with this result we are going to be contenders for the scudetto. Fans love to hate on this team, when poor management was to blame.
Chelsea started training seven days ago. They were on holidays for 3 weeks. This was milan 5th game.
“What we think the defensive department is missing is an older head, someone experienced and composed, like Simon Kjaer was when he arrived. If that type of profile were to arrive in addition to someone more young like De Winter, it would safeguard things a bit more”.
Exactly!! I have been saying this for two years now.
100%
“What we think the defensive department is missing is an older head, someone experienced and composed, like Simon Kjaer was when he arrived. If that type of profile were to arrive in addition to someone more young like De Winter, it would safeguard things a bit more”.
Exactly!! I have been saying this for two years now. For me, this is essential.
Sell Musah right now Shen there is a buyer. Conte might cast his magic on him but I don’t see he will much improve under Allegri. No word for Fofana, dude is rubbish. Save money and don’t buy Vlahovic or Hojlund. Leao is now playing as CF too. Krostovic is reasonable. Buying him would also help Carmada.
I didnt see the game today, but his style is more suited for the wing than at striker unless they play a front 2 where he can drift wide without leaving a hole in the box.
Fofana is definately crap. Did’t see today game but I saw every game last season. After winter he became the horror. First thought he was tired but I guess the first 3-4 months were just flukey. His passing game is horrible and his defending is overrated. We need someone who can actually be a #6
Fofana is a good player but the change in coach and I suspect his enthusiasm for joining has gone. I remember right before December how excited he was on the pitch to cover the ground and win tackles but the rest of the midfield were dumb and sat back, I remember him turning around and seeing no one come with him and he looked defeated.
The coach needs to do something there to motivate him again. The guy isnt crap, he is a quality player and the only few left at the club who is quick, physically imposing and has a forward pass in him. He isnt a 6 like the club wanted him to be but he is better suited to passing forward from deep and not doing the defensive cover all the time.
100% agree. Lot of hate against Fofana but he is a good player
The defeat is logical.
Only a Thiago Silva can help us…
Nothing to be concerned about. I liked this preseason, I saw a lot of positives under Allegri. I see they’re more comfortable playing 3 man back line and maybe that’s the way to go. I’ve been saying since last season Bart is no fullback and he should be playing a LCB.
De Winter/Tomori – Gabbia – Pavlo/ Bart
But we’re one defender short. Someone senior a la Kjaer would be perfect.
Ricci, Modrić, Jashari give a lot of balance and vision. Something we lacked for last two seasons. But subs are below par with Misah, Fofana and RLC.
Leao seems to be finding his feet up front as a CF. Fast paced counter attacking play suits him a lot. Okafor can come handy, Saele is working his a*s off. Now where to put Pulišić in 352…
I agree with almost all of your points.
First I don’t think it is 352. Pretty sure it is 3421.
This leads to my belief that RLC is better than you credit. As part of the 2 he made all sorts of trouble for Chelsea today in both phases.
I also REALLY liked Saelemakers on the left 2. Pulisic and Saelemakers together like that with RLC and Ok4 as change of pace and rotation seems pretty darn deep to me.
Even if Saelemakers is a sub the level from Puli to him will drop very little. That leaves Gimenez at the top and Rafa on the left.
I’d like to see us bring in this old CB the article mentions, but no names jump to mind.
Sell Pulisic. What will we do? Anyway, we will play a low block and defend the whole match with 5 players in the back line, take the ball and pass Leao into the space. I saw that under Allegra. We defend against Leeds for 85 minutes. Is that Milan? No, it’s not Milan. Milan attack. Here is the trainer for 3-5-2 and enjoy the matches.
yes, this is it for the next 2-3 years, 8 at the back and hope for Leao, I don’t know how people didn’t expect this under Allegri.
Now let them enjoy it, and I can’t watch it. I can’t watch it being played in Milan’s half for 80% of the game. Milan to play with 5 in defense, when was that? It was under Zacheroni and never again.
So… dont watch
It’s no Aslani, no Tchetchoa, no , no , no Dybala, no, no Noslin no no limit
What was great about Mordric was his availability. What wasn’t so great is that our back line wasn’t seeing him.
Speaks volumes to how weak our midfield was last year
I learned we don’t miss Theo. Even without a left back today there was no moaning.
I learned that many don’t seem to get that:
A. This is the preseason. Where the games are made up and the points don’t matter.
B. This is Allegri ball. Sit back and hold tight – it is exactly what our boys will be doing in the pitch
We have some talented squad players.
– Pulisic has a dog fight on his hands with Saelemakers.
– RLC is a servicable mid and an impactful second striker.
– one of Ricci, Modric and Jashari will come off the bench.
Bari is where we see if all Allegri has learned will be put to practice and the lads play at 100% instead of going through the motions.
What were missing is a team were just a collection of random foreigners
We have yet to see this team play with all the starters on the pitch to see what the chemistry is like. I’m hoping this will be the case against Bari.
Hope KDW is a decent replacement for Thiaw. But we needed another CB while Thiaw was here, so I’d say another CB still needs to come in as Tomori and Pavlo provide more questions than answers.
On a side note, RLC has done more in this preseason than all of last season. Hope he keeps it up.
This is another mystery to me: the endless bashing of RLC. I get criticism at the guy because he miss 2 of 3 games, but when he is healthy is a quality player at least for serie A
We need someone senior like Kjaer. I somehow suspect we’ll get Djimsiti. Not really my flavour tho.
Does anyone else have a weird feeling that Allegri will talk the management into panic buying Rugani and Vlahovic in the last week of the window? 🤦♂️
No. They’re not stupid. Allgeri gave Coubis a chance and he blew it. The result and performance is meaningless. All that matters is 3 points next week.
Not older head. You need a calm head. Back line definitely need backup. Dont need to spend big money because we only focus on domestics next year. Serie A experience. I dont know why we dont look at Idzes. Now he’s gone to sassuolo.
What I learnt: we are not as good as we think
I don’t think we learnt anything really, due to the red card. Neither did Chelsea really, although at least a confidence boost for their first team. Ref did neither team a favour with that choice in a friendly match.
Did we learn that we needed a CB? No. Did we learn that Fofana and Musah have weaknesses in their games in need of addressing? No. Did we learn that Ricci isn’t a complete midfielder and lacks speed? No.
Hopefully it made the club a few Euros. We’ll learn more against Bari next week. I’m a bit disappointed that we don’t have any friendlies lined up for the second string to play in.
At the back I will go a try for skrinnar ????
That we didn’t have a great season as expected doesn’t mean our guy’s aren’t good enough. Last season we had a fantastic pre season, where did it landed us ? We couldn’t even make it to any European competitions.
Everyone is now calling Fofana a flop, forgetting that the young man haven’t played much game’s, I could remember how he plays like a beast before the whole management issue began,or we think that it doesn’t have effect on player’s, this same Fofana had couple of assists and was so workaholic in the midfield, Milan needs experienced defender’s and good goal scorer, we’re good to go in the midfield and let’s not forget that Yunus isn’t a natural midfielder, take him to the right flank his so good at and see the best of him.
Tactical Review: AC Milan 1–4 Chelsea
The scoreline flatters Chelsea — the game was far more balanced than the result suggests. Milan showed structure, discipline, and moments of high-quality build-up play, but key individual errors proved decisive.
Goal 1 (Chelsea) – An unfortunate own goal from a young defender. No system breakdown here, simply an unlucky deflection.
Goal 2 (Chelsea) – This is where Milan’s experiment backfired. Tomori was placed as the central centre-back in a back three. It’s not his natural position; his aerial vulnerability and hesitation in reading the striker’s movement were exposed. Allegri likely wanted to test his leadership in the most demanding defensive role — the result was costly.
Goal 3 (Chelsea) – A tactical domino effect. Coubis’ red card forced Milan to abandon their 3-4-2-1 for a compact 4-4-1. Musah, already playing out of position at right-back, was caught in a bad challenge, conceding a penalty. The positional reshuffle disrupted Milan’s defensive balance.
Goal 4 (Chelsea) – A quick one-two pass exploited the space between Tomori and Dutu, both still developing chemistry. Here, Milan’s lack of a natural defensive midfielder was glaring. Fofana’s box-to-box profile left the pivot unprotected — a true holding midfielder would have read and intercepted that pass before it reached the danger zone.
Milan’s Goal – Pure quality. A sequence of incisive passes split Chelsea’s lines and created a clear shooting opportunity — not a counterattack, but a deliberate and well-orchestrated attacking move.