After a good resurgence in the league, there was excitement ahead of last night’s game against Bayer Leverkusen to see how much AC Milan have really grown, and although they lost there were plenty of talking points.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) has a double-page spread titled: ‘Milan beaten, but what a shame. They lost in Leverkusen by wasting too many chances and at the end should have had a penalty. Boniface wins it. In the second half, many wasted chances, then RLC goes down: no penalty, Fonseca furious’.
After two exciting weeks, fans were curious to see how Milan got on against arguably the most in-form side in Europe last season. It was a timid and imprecise first half, but in the 51st minute – after Boniface’s opening goal – Paulo Fonseca’s team started to put their foot down on the accelerator.
They put pressure on Hradecky and the defence right until the end, but only after conceding the goal that put them behind. Alvaro Morata’s entrance changed things, and there could have been a penalty at the end on Loftus-Cheek.
In terms of individual performances, there remain doubts about Loftus-Cheek being used in a deeper role while Tijjani Reijnders was wasteful playing further forward. Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao were decidedly below par compared to the last few games, too.
Emerson Royal is still struggling, but Youssouf Fofana was a giant and showed himself to be capable of persistently driving the ball forward. Meanwhile, Fonseca – who is not a manager that usually comments on refereeing errors – made his frustrations known.
“I’ve reviewed the episode several times. It’s strange that the VAR didn’t intervene on the Loftus-Cheek: it’s a penalty and yet the action wasn’t even reviewed,” he said.
It’s over now, there’s no going back and changing this decision, with Milan now having to think about the future and reverse the direction of the Champions League. They must beat Club Brugge, take what comes from the away game at Real Madrid and then look to close with four wins.
As usual, the rollercoaster is on. The derby win made some think that this team is ready to compete at the highest level. Lecce…
Not a bad second half but without Maignan and his 8 saves the score would have been harsher. The ref was poor, albeit on the second penalty controversy it seems like the foul is outside the penalty box but it would have been a dangerous free kick for Milan anyway. This team is close to being good and it’s even more depressing when you think where Milan could be right now without the cheap decisions leading to a revolution every summer and poor acquisitions on the market.
Well Bayer’s goalkeeper had also a good amount of big saves… Leverkusen are well in a long term project, 3rd year for their coach with clear identify, we can’t compare ourselves for now but we managed to dominate in second half and with some decent finishing we could at least finish with a draw… You guys are being a bit too harsh whenever the score is not in our favor
Yeah good second half by the Leverkusen’s goalkeeper, he could have fell asleep after the first half. Still I don’t have the same feeling of urgency from Mike and him but it’s everyone’s opinion about that.
Yeah they’re well in their project. Meanwhile Milan is changing his long-term project constantly over the years. You would think that a team winning Serie A and going to UCL semifinals the year after that would be close to greatness but here we are. Fire the management and replace them with clowns, lose the top players and replace them with cheap dudes, fire the coach and replace him with cheap dude. It doesn’t seem to be the recipe for success. I’m tired of the wait and see while the club is focused on its brand.
The foul on Tammy in the box was more evident than the one on RLC. And lets not get started on Theo getting hit in the face
There is no need to panic. We lost a couple of games to two of Europe’s best teams.
Whether or not you like Fonseca, he hasn’t found his game 100% yet. This team is not ready to compete at the highest level in Europe.
We focus on doing our best in the league for now.
As for the Champions League, we’re likely to drop points in our 4th game against Real Madrid as well. So the focus should be on maximizing gains against Club Brugges, Red Star, Dinamo Zagreb, Girona, and Slovan Bratislava.
Liverpool, Leverkusen, and Madrid were always the games we were expected to lose.
so calma.
This Milan is not going to win Girona. With leao unseriousness.. No way
Girona aren’t faring too well either.
They have problems in both phases of the game.
And we’re playing them at San Siro, in round 7. They are likely to take too much damage by then. More than us I reckon.
And if we can’t even keep up with Girona, then so be it. It means we’re not good enough anyway, and this whole Fonseca project should be put to sleep early.
“So the focus should be on maximizing gains against Club Brugges, Red Star, Dinamo Zagreb, Girona, and Slovan Bratislava.
Liverpool, Leverkusen, and Madrid were always the games we were expected to lose.”
Exactly. 5 wins would guarantee a place in the playoffs. 4 might be enough too.
I think milan shown too much respect for Leverkusen, They play the waiting game and Leverkusen took advantage of that. you cant just sit back and hope on counter against an attacking team.
Milan should have took the fight to Leverkusen at the first kickoff like every other big European teams play.
But this Milan mentality did not see themselves as a top team in Europe. That need to change.
A team like milan should have the mindset of creating and scoring goals within first 10-15mins against any team. not to sit back and allow them take it to you before you react