AC Milan fell to an embarrassing defeat in Croatia last night as Dinamo Zagreb killed any chances of a Champions League top-eight finish, or did they?
We can credit Dinamo here, stating that they did the work themselves. However, it can also be argued that Milan were just terrible on the evening and not up to the occasion, whilst the hosts proved that they very much were.
After just 20 minutes, Zagreb took the lead through Baturin, and they did not stop there, threatening the goal several times more after that. Then, the game fell past the Rossoneri as Yunus Musah was sent off for a second yellow.
Despite this, some halftime changes made things seem slightly better, and the Diavolo eventually equalised through Christian Pulisic. It would not count for much though, as the hosts took the lead again through Pjaca just seven minutes later.
Chances after that were limited, and despite a claim for a penalty which was ruled out due to Leao appearing to foul a defender, Milan limped towards the full-time whistle and in turn, out of the top eight.
A win could have been worth as much as €25 million to the Rossoneri, so the failure to progress automatically is a deep frustration for the club. Let’s look at five key things that decided the game.
1. Lacking composure
Musah managed to earn himself two yellow cards in short succession with the second yellow being a ridiculous one, as he went into a spat with his opponent which earned him a red card, thus leaving his side a goal and a man down.
We recently mentioned that the American has seen his playing time increase under Conceicao and his versatility can be valuable, but instead of gaining momentum, he acted stupidly and let his team down.
What the midfielder did was reckless, he lacked composure and acted before stopping to think for a second about the consequences. It definitely can be suggested that Milan ending up in the play-off round, can be attributed to his decision. A decision that cost €17m.
Overall, it was really poor from Musah, who has struggled a lot since joining in the summer of 2023, and the management might be inclined to look elsewhere if he continues in the same inconsistent fashion.
2. Unusual error-plagued the game
Matteo Gabbia has been arguably the best Milan defender since he was recalled from loan around a year ago now and has been crucial in many key games for the Rossoneri.
Against Zagreb, however, he had a night to forget as he slipped and gifted the host the opening goal and was then subbed off at half-time. To top it off, he also picked up an injury and will most likely not be available for the game against Inter.
Nothing much more to add, because the Italian has really been stable in the past year and it is unfortunate that he slipped.
3. Contrasting performances
With Gabbia being subbed off at half-time, Tomori ended up alongside Pavlovic in the heart of Milan’s defence, but he too, similar to Gabbia, had a disastrous night. His marking was dreadful on Dinamo’s second goal, allowing Pjaca to get a touch on the ball and send it in the back of the net without any pressure from the Englishman.
Truth be told, Tomori has struggled to be consistently good since the Scudetto-winning season and has been struggling to be good as a whole since the start of this season, so Milan will continue to search for a stable centre-back pairing halfway through the season. Their faults are, at this point, pretty self-explanatory.

On the other hand, Pavlovic has been reborn since the Girona game as he followed up with a brilliant performance against Parma and was the best player on the pitch against Dinamo. If Gabbia had not given up the goal and got injured then the two could’ve brought more stability at the back, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
The Serbian has nothing to be ashamed of as he made several good tackles and interceptions at the back, as well as bringing his energy to the attacking phase in the later stages of the game when he acted as a striker and tried hard to get Milan level.
Unfortunately, his teammates couldn’t provide any meaningful crosses into the box, but Pavlovic is certainly establishing himself as a pillar in the heart of Milan’s defence.
4. Leaders fail to lead
In a must-win against a struggling side, you’d expect players such as Rafael Leao, Alvaro Morata, Tijjani Reijnders, Theo Hernandez and Pulisic to lead the way, but the fans were again left disappointed as all but on were not on the needed level.
Pulisic was the only one to make something happen with a lovely goal, but it stops there with Leao and Morata really struggling, whilst Theo also lacked the energy to burst forward.
Reijnders, who has been in superb form this season, was also not at his best as he looked really tired. You can use fatigue as an argument for Leao and Theo too, with the lack of depth forcing them to play constantly, but they were subbed off early against Parma and in a big game like this, you’d expect them to push a little bit harder to help their side perform better.
The fact of the matter is Milan lack the leaders in these delicate matches, and they have for some time now.
When things are clicking, the Rossoneri can beat everyone it seems, but when the situation is not ideal, the lack of a leader is felt instantly and the Conceicao effect seems to also be fading although, again, that red card was not helpful at all.
5. Wake up call for the management
We can blame certain players or coaches all we want, but the fact is that all of these people have been brought by the management who are now scrambling to fix their summer mistakes which at this stage seems to be all of them.

Alvaro Morata and Tammy Abraham were both brought in the summer and both struggle to contribute with goals or assist and are barely finding the space to shoot at all.
Emerson Royal has been a disaster on the right flank and Pavlovic just only started to show his potential again.
Theo has no deputy and fatigue is probably a real concern for him. Whilst Pulisic and Leao have deputies, both Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze are virtually useless as they offer next to nothing. As seen with Okafor missing a fairly good chance again last night to make it even, but he couldn’t even get a half-decent shot off with nobody pressuring him.
In the midfield, Reijnders and Youssouf Fofana are playing every game with no depth to help them recover and it is definitely showing.
Thus the management needs to acknowledge their mistakes, but sadly there’s no time and seemingly no willingness to spend big to fix the situation.
Rumours now are suggesting that Morata might be off to Galatasaray whilst Gimenez may arrive from Feyenoord, but given all of the issues listed above, it is hardly going to change things and with both the quarter-finals and the top 4 in the league in jeopardy, it is going to be tough for the Rossoneri fans until the end of the season.
I’ve learned that I’ve had it with this team. It’s like falling from the top of a skyscraper and trying to convince oneself that everything is fine because we didn’t hit rock bottom yet. What’s the point of saying this is the worst game or not ? The next one is likely to be worse.
1. Why are Zlatan, Furlani and Moncada still on board ? How does one take a team that barely won a scudetto a year ago, that was in UCL semi-finals however lucky that was and that was not bankrupt anything and turn it into this…
2. I hear some people talking about our “core players”. What core players ? In order to talk about a core, you need to have a body/team first. We ARE NOT A TEAM. This is just a bad collage of individuals with no leadership, no cohesion whatsoever that cannot properly work together and are unable to do anything if it’s not against tomato cans. Leão, Théo and Morata are not bad leaders, they’re not leaders as simple as that.
3. Why are our new players so trash ? What does players like Morata, Abraham, Terracciano and that headless chicken Musah do on the pitch ? Who scouted them ? Who decided they’re good ? 6 monthes in and we’re already tried to sell Emerson, Pavlović and Morata. Why are players purchased 6 monthes ago already on the market ? Chukwueze, Okafor and reportedly Jović are also ready to leave. Why are players we barely took in a year or so ago already on the market ?
4. Conceição is trash, let’s sack him. Let’s bring in Allegri or Sarri or Terzić or Zidane,…. I’m sure that we will IMMEDIATELY improve with no issues whatsoever. Or let’s beg Fonseca to come back so we can enjoy beautiful fooball, good results and watch our team fight for titles…
5. We don’t need a squad revamping or squad revolution, we need a squad DEMOLITION (if we can call ours a squad). Keep few individuals who show some performances and willingless to do something and all the others should be ready to leave.
On point 3, yea we were called haters for calling out buying 11 players with Tonali and UCL money. These were sub par signings but you wouldn’t know it because the pages were flooded with adulation for the “best transfer window in a decade”. Remember that? Smh 🤷♂️. Pulisic had the potential to be a great signing and he was. So too RLC but he didn’t pan out. The rest were just mediocre top amongst them Chuk and Musah. This summer it was a continuation..no real squad planning and poor construction. Players were bought because they were either cheap or “opportunities”. Nothing in relation to the team/coaching needs. This whole thing starts from the top and the club is not run well on the sporting side. Sooner or later it will impact the other side
You also remember the analyst on this page? Every transfer according to this so-called expert on this website is 7 or 8 at least. But in reality, all of them are rubbish. All remember how those who support the management sang praise to Mocanda and trash talk the legend Maldini. Where are those people? I can’t help but notice most players this management bought can run, hence lots of EPL benchwarmers. In reality, they run like headless chicken with no football IQ.
It was quite insane. In which world has overhauling almost an entire midfield worked out? We’ll never see the majority of those posters anymore (there are still a few …I see them even now grasping at whatever remaining straw they have left). It’s sometimes not nice to say I told you so but they way they acted then I’m happily saying I told you so. When you’ve seen the game long enough it was so obvious those moves were never going to bring success..Two years from a UCL semi one would have thought maybe we build on that. Instead ego had them destroy the team and pretend they knew what they doing when they had no clue in reality. And those actions are exactly what we’re paying for now
If Milan and only signed Pulisic that summer they’d probably have competed for the Scudetto.
Pulisic an upgrade for Brahim. Done.
Maybe a new mid to replace Kessie. RLC could’ve been that and who knows maybe if he’d been given the space, and joined an established team, he could’ve done well.
Most of the signings might have done well had they been one of a few rather one of many.
Reijnders probably would’ve hit form sooner, and wouldn’t have had to worry as much about defending with Tonali and Krunic behind him.
We’ll never know. But nothing good comes from signing multiple players at once especially multiple players in the one position.
We wouldn’t have competed for the scudetto if we only signed Pulisic because Tonali would have been sanctioned for gambling, leaving the midfield with Krunić, Adli and Pobega, since Bennacer won’t be retourning before winter and would be out of shape as we saw. Signing only Pulisic would also mean that Origi would have been the only backup to Giroud and as bad as Okafor and Jović were, they were still better than Origi.
Am tired of hearing leaders fail to lead.we are used to this aspect the leaders have failed 70percent already
Come support Comp….
But this team does (or did) have a leader. A leader for the last 4 years where it consistently finished in the top 4.
When the club froze out that leader the team has collapsed.
You can see his leadership every time he’s on the pitch. He’s telling players where to stand, directing passes, organising the defence.
But this all gets missed because he’s not people’s idea of a super-duper-RB.
Didn’t learn anything new, we under perform, no one will say why and as fans we suffer.
1. Musah was an idiot. Pretty easy to spot. But Puli got a card for descent. Puli. That is not his game. It is clear that we showed up to this game way over the limit on nerves.
So a problem in this game is Musah for sure. But _the_ problem was how we were prepared to take the field.
We should have come out and crushed them in the first 15 min. Instead we came out scare to lose.
I’ve learned that our coach is not preparing the team to succeed in the first half and that it is getting worse not better.
2. Gabbia error prone?
Dude made one mistake on a pitch that was clearly in bad shape with many Miilan players slipping all game. The rest of his game was the usual dependable CB.
Why were our players slipping and not Zagreb? Wrong spikes? Worse, why were we slipping in the second half?
Again I learn that we were not prepared for the field conditions.
Theme – lack of preparedness.
3. Tomorri v. Pavlovic
Tomorri assumes he will be here. Pavlovic knows he has to fight to remain. Let’s see in three days when the market closes if Pavlovic is still playing all out. Let’s see if he can harness the recklessness to efficacy.
I learned that all this “should he stay or should he go” BS in this mercato is impacting our players ability to play their best football.
4. Leaders fail to lead
We don’t have leaders. Puli, Pavlovic, Calabria lead by the example of hard work. Gabbia by his consistent peformances.
MIke did a good job shepparding Musah off the field before any more misery accrued to Milan.
But nobody is saying, “Follow me.” Nobody demands more from the players around him.
That this article still refers to Leao and Theo as leaders is lazy writing. We’ve known they are not for months. Let’s look for new things to learn.
5. Management
Management have shown any wake up call will have the snooze button hit. So the call does not matter. The pattern has been clear since before Fonzy sacking. That we are 3 days from the end of the window and we have a broke-down RB to replace our worst signing of the summer isn’t waking up.
We’ve learned management is not taking calls. (I am still pro-ownership b/c the money has been there for mgmt to use)
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What have I yet to learn …
What I have yet to truly conclude is if this is a problem of the players simply not able to get up for the game in front of them (weak minded), a coaching issue, or both.
I had concluded it was a player issue before Sarge lost his mind on Calabria. Hmm, that is just not how things are done. Then to see Puli(!) and Musah lose their cool in a game against a minnow has me thinking the problem is both.
So right now I have learned we have the worst of all problems. Poor coach, weak players and management that doesn’t accept wake up calls.
It is time for Cardinale to show me he is the owner he needs to be. He has until the end of next summer, but sooner is better.
To echo your first point, while the Musah idiocy made things much more difficult, the team had played at full strength for nearly the entirety of the first half and managed to be down 1-nil. Definitely suggests a deeper issue (lack of preparedness, weak-minded, etc).
One thing I learned is that if you are Italian everyone will make excuse after excuse for you.
People trying to say Gabbia slipped, trying to blame it on the pitch. He did not slip, he panicked when he saw the opposing player coming torwards him and tripped over the ball. And that wasn’t the only mistake he made. His touch was awful and so was his passing in this game. I think Gabbiia has been good this year but can we please stop with the double standards for certain players.
If this was another one of our defenders people would be absolutely killing him today, not trying to make excuses.
Second thing I learned is that tactically Conceico makes Fonseca look like Pep.
Let the games begin.
We will have to agree to disagree about Gabbia. I could care less he is Italian. He is getting crushed in the comments on multiple articles as if he is Emersons fat cousin.
He made a mistake. The field was observably a problem for us all game. He wasn’t at his usual standard. He doesn’t belong in the Emerson, Chuk, OK 4 convos.
Our team was not prepped for the field conditions. From how it should change our tactics and passing details to equipment selection.
We allowed ourselves to be ambushed. Gabbia was a symptom, not the problem
Yes, it’s odd that Milan did not have a different set of cleats to deal with this pitch. Add that to the list of coaching failures.
Yeah he’s been solid. His mistake was in the worst possible game but if Musah didn’t get a red maybe Milan comes back and people forget about a one time anomaly.
I cannot personally separate Puli getting that yellow from Musah’s madness. Musah ain’t the brightest football brain but he’s not been one to do such ill disciplined stuff like pulling on a downed player.
Other of our players were extra moaning about calls early in the game. It’s like they were instructed to whinge as part of our set up or something. Maybe the idea was to make the red our extra player? Jeez even I’m just angry about that game.
They were annoyed how the opposition flopped like fish. That Pulisic yellow card was harsh what could he really have said? Bro, thats BS these guys dive like Michael Phelps and when I go down, nothing? Ref brandished a yellow card. The whole match was off from the empty stands to the frozen tundra to the absents of tactics.
Croatia is football mad. So yeah what was with the empty stands. Very strange!
That was a frozen pitch they played on and many players slipped and fell. I think that is why Leao threw in the towel. Also They where trying some hybrid 343 formation and I think Gabbia was uncomfortable with it and yes he panicked causing him to slip but the pitch did play a part.
And when they find the space, no one passes the ball. It’s a team issue. Not single players.
1. Morata, Abraham and Emerson were all dumb decisions and need to go but Fofana and Pav were not and can be part of the rebuild.
2. Summer before last was even worse. Only Pulisic and Reijnders were good and can be part of a rebuild. Chuk, RLC, Okafor, Musah, Jovic, etc all haven’t worked out.
3. I think they need to start over and let Conceciao decide who he wants in the summer. I’d put everyone outside of Pulisic, Reijnders, Fofana, Gabbia, Pav, Thiaw, Walker, Mike and possibly Leao on the chopping block and start from there. Need a bunch of replacements and more depth.
4. I actually think we can beat Inter as it seems the team is more motivated against big teams and we’ve already beaten them twice. Would be nice to get the trifecta.
5. Is it unanimous that everyone agrees Pulisic is the best player on the team?
We beat juve in the super coppa but they beat us quite well in the last game. inter are coming off a wonderful outing in the UCL, ours was a nightmare. Our house is on fire, but nobody is running.its status quo ant, everybdy as they were – idle, listless and lethargic.
We are most likely gonna have our asses handed to us on sunday. Maybe Walker will run for 90mins, combine well with Pulisic and we pull the stick from the fire, but overall management signed a death wish with their transfer strategies.
There certainly is no light at the end of this tunnel, Furlani and co don’t want to admit they were wrong in their judgement, selection and assembly of this squad. I am begining to love Fonseca more. he said the truth, was crucified for it, was sacked like a dog, called all sorts of names – but all he said was true.
Now Sergio blurts out the same truth at every opportunity he gets, kinda trying to absolve himself of the blame. Like he loves to say: he is being paid to do this job, he should earn his keep. It is at this time i wish the rumors of Saudi takeover with Maldini at the helm are true, but wishes are not horses and Milan is crawling now.
5. At the moment yes, but I think tiji has a higher ceiling but cannot figure what is holding him back.
I think Leao could be better than Puli as well but has a choice to make and some work to do.
I think as a CB Pavlovich could be more important if he develops quickly before we get bored and discard him to Juve.
It all depends obviously on the future and how well players play and who is brought in. I’m only talking about the last two seasons and the current situation. Seems like on a consistent basis Pulisic is the only one to score and create for others. Reijnders had a spell and Leao comes alive every few games but I can’t imagine where the goals would come consistently without Pulisic. Currently he is the best. Leao has more God given talent but doesn’t seem motivated or have that hunger to become a better player. I agree about Reijnders. Pav has a long way to go. He’s only done it 2 games in a row and was a liability earlier in the season. Either way all 3 of them need to be kept and be at the center of whatever Is happening going forward.
Leão creates alot chances teammates miss and that’s part of the reason he becomes unmotivated and walks around or lays on the pitch. Pulisic gives his all and the goals show it. To bad Leão feels he’ll try hard when his teammates are his level in his eyes example Theo.
Agreed. Raw talent and results ae two different things.
Sell the whole squad, and why not rebrand whilst you’re at it.
What’s even the point of supporting this ‘team’?
You don’t rate any of the players.
Maybe take a break (for different reasons than me).
ironically if you get rid of pulisic,
the other players would stop being jealous of him and prolly start playing better.
Yes, Pulisic is like the kid in school that does the homework, studies, makes all the other kids look bad so they don’t like him.
Leao and Theo are like “hey, why are you trying so hard and producing goals and assists on a consistent basis. Show off.”
They should totally stand away from him on the sidelines at lunch.
They should take the ball off him and shove him out of the way.
Seems you e hit on a great metaphor for our team mentality.
They did that against viola.
Yeah I was going for the school yard irony angle with Cooling Break BS and Penalty Gate.
It really illustrates it is not only the coach.
Every time,5 things to learn. They never learn. Musah was a mess.period
Generally Pulisic doesn’t get that mad but he’s smart enough that if he does and gets a yellow odds are he will be fine. I’d also say Pulisic yelling at the ref is a little less extreme then dragging a player who is faking an injury. Sadly all soccer players fake injuries(the one thing I HATE about soccer) and you just gotta leave the player alone. As an American I was extremely excited about Musah a few years ago but I haven’t seen him develop at all. Loads of athleticism and dribbling but nothing else.
Take away 4231 or 433. Milan is losing games after games using this formation
Get back to basic 442 or 4312.
Milan players are too lazy for 4231.