It was a tough and humbling night for AC Milan as they were beaten 3-2 by Liverpool at Anfield in their Champions League group stage opener.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanLive) have offered their player ratings from the game, and they have given the team an overall score of 6, largely because of their ability to stay in the game, weather the storm and then put Liverpool in difficulty.
Mike Maignan was the highest rated player with a score of 7.5 out of 10. Despite the fact he let three in, the French goalkeeper kept Milan afloat in the first minutes, and then he saved a vital penalty.
The worst was Theo Hernandez, who got a 5.5. On his side it was by no means easy with Salah and Alexander-Arnold attacking down Milan’s left flank, but he certainly didn’t pocket either of them. Ismael Bennacer got a 5.5 too, while Alessandro Florenzi. Simon Kjaer, Fikayo Tomori and Franck Kessie also got a 7.
Ante Rebic got a 6 for his spell in the game just before half-time, while there was a 6 for all the others, including Brahim Diaz, and Rafael Leao, who were decisive in the goals scored to give Milan the lead.
Milan ratings (4-2-3-1): Maignan 7.5; Calabria 6, Kjaer 7, Tomori 7, Hernández 5.5; Kessie 7, Bennacer 5.5, Saelemaekers 6, Brahim Diaz 6, Leao 6; Rebic 6.
Subs: Florenzi 5.5, Giroud 6, Tonali 6, Maldini N/A.
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Kessie 7?! Only Hernandez & Bennacer were worse than him and he definitely showed there are no reasons to give that guy 6-8M€/year. WIth that kind of display even 3M€ would be too much.
Seriously. Offload Kessie in the winter. He’s gotten dispossessed more times than not, couldn’t make a decent pass to his teammates (culprit for igniting Liverpool’s counter) and then blamed his mistake on his mates. Not MILAN class and certainly not at European competition level.
Giving a 4 to Kessie would be a stretch.
Kessie got 7 while Rebić got 6? Hahahahahahaha.