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.