Stefano Pioli’s decision to opt for a half-rotation of sorts during last night’s game against Red Star has been questioned by the media.
Having scored twice in Belgrade last week, the Rossoneri knew that they simply had to avoid defeat or a high-scoring draw against the Serbian league leaders in order to progress, but away goals is exactly what they needed to go through after a 3-3 aggregate draw.
Pioli made a number of changes to his starting line-up from the defeat to Inter as Fikayo Tomori, Diogo Dalot, Soualiho Meite, Samu Castillejo, Rade Krunic and Rafael Leao came into the team.
According to il Corriere della Sera this morning (via MilanNews), Pioli made a few too many changes to his starting line-up for the game at San Siro. The Rossoneri coach practically changed half of his XI, but then was forced to insert almost all the regular starters in the second half to get the job done.
Indeed, rather than a quiet night for the likes of Ibrahimovic, Rebic, Saelemaekers, Tonali and Theo Hernandez, they were forced to play minutes in a tough situation.