AC Milan were second best in pretty much all areas during last night’s 2-0 defeat to Inter in the Champions League semi-final first leg, losing virtually all of the key battles.
La Gazzetta dello Sport have picked out three of the duels that Milan lost, starting with Henrik Mkhitaryan against Sandro Tonali. One is 34 and the other is 23, but looking at last night you would have not been able to guess who was what age.
Mkhitaryan took centre stage with the goal after Dimarco’s cross and Lautaro’s dummy allowed him to stride through on goal and finish, all while Tonali trudged behind him having failed to track the Armenian’s run.
On the flip side, Mkhitaryan was very skilled in escaping Tonali’s control as he moved with an intelligent mobility, certainly backing up Inzaghi’s decision to not start Marcelo Brozovic in the midfield three.
Then there was Olivier Giroud against Edin Dzeko, both born in 1986 with experience and wisdom in industrial quantities. Yesterday Dzeko easily won the duel, as while Giroud fought (he was the Milan player who engaged in the most duels with 15), in front of goal he was seen very little.
On the other hand, games like this are why Inzaghi considers the Dzeko-Lautaro duo more suitable for his idea of attack given the Bosnian moved like a playmaker without losing his sense for goal, as demonstrated by his finish from the corner to make it 1-0.
Finally, there was Theo Hernandez and Federico Dimarco who are both crucial to their teams on the left. Both came from a happy Sunday in which they scored against Lazio and Roma respectively, but last night it was the latter who shone.
Theo touched the ball 97 times which was the most of any Milan player but without Leao, Hernandez’s attacking capabilities were weakened and his cuts inside were also dealt with well by Inter’s midfield.
Dimarco meanwhile did an excellent job exploiting Milan’s weaker side, especially in the opening 20 minutes, as he was almost always found in behind his man ready to cause danger, with an assist to his name too.
Interesting.
I thought Tonali was poor.
And of course Mkhitaryan struggled at Roma, Arsenal and Man Utd and now look at him!
And Lukaku was Inter’s star player, went to Chelsea, came back and now can’t get a game.
Anyone thinks they can judge a player’s ability based on current form thinks too highly of themselves.
Hmmm I wonder how and then why milan