The final international break of the season has been and gone, with AC Milan players returning from all around the globe.
As we pointed out in our feature after the win over Torino, there were 13 members of the Milan squad summoned by their respective national teams, and 11 different assignments. Only Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot plus Koni De Winter and Alexis Saelemaekers went off in pairs.
There were different things at stake for them too. For many it was a case of World Cup warm-ups ahead of the big one this summer, but there were also some U21 European Championship qualifiers and some U20 Elite League games too.
Now all of the attention shifts to the big Easter Monday trip to Naples to face Napoli, but how will each of the internationals arrive back at Milanello in terms of form and condition?
Defensive delight
What made the headlines before the break was Strahinja Pavlovic’s goal against Torino in the eventual 3-2 win. His 30-yard half-volley crashed in off the bar, and it is without doubt a contender for goal of the season. It was also announced the he scooped the club MVP award for March, too.
On Tuesday night, Serbia faced Saudi Arabia in a friendly match, given that they have not qualified for the World Cup and are were in play-off action either. After going 1-0 down, Pavlovic pulled a stunning bicycle kick out of his locker to equalise, before Mitrovic made it 2-1 a few minutes later.
That came a few days after Serbia had lost 3-0 against Spain, which was a bit of a tougher examination for the Milan defender, albeit against an opposition that are among the favourites to lift the World Cup in July.
Davide Bartesaghi’s fantastic season continues too. He once again shone for the Azzurrini in a game against North Macedonia, as the Rossoneri academy graduate got a pair of assists on the night, the first of which showed his qualities as a marauding full-back.
On Tuesday, Italy U21s recorded another 4-0 European Championship qualifier win, this time against Sweden. Bartesaghi also recorded another assist, and this one came from an excellent free-kick that he put right on the head of Lipari, who finished well.
Belgium were rampant on Saturday night at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, winning 5-2 in the end. Alexis Saelemaekers started and played an hour of football, in which he registered an assist when he perfectly set up Onana to give the Red Devils a 2-1 lead. He played 18 minutes in the 1-1 draw with Mexico on Wednesday.
Koni De Winter racked up 100 minutes of game time as well over the two friendlies, and was solid as he has been in recent weeks. It shows that he is very much in contention for a leading role at the World Cup, at the age of 23.
Finally, Fikayo Tomori was recalled to the England squad by Thomas Tuchel for their final World Cup warm-ups. He started in the 1-1 draw against Uruguay at Wembley and while he didn’t have a lot to do, the centre-back was solid and tidy. He was subsequently excused from the England-Japan match.
Struggles persist
Speaking of the World Cup, the USA are one of the host nations and the pressure is really ramping up on them as their struggles to get results continues. Over the break, they were beaten by Belgium as mentioned, and 2-0 by Portugal.
Unfortunately, the hopes of Christian Pulisic finding a goal and rediscovering some form did not come to fruition. In fact, after also losing the captain’s armband to Tim Ream, the Milan forward was given a 3 out of 10 score by ESPN in their post-Belgium ratings, after missing another chance.
Sadly his fortunes did not change in the defeat to Portugal, either. ESPN gave him a 3 out of 10 again in their player ratings (GOAL gave him a 5 in both) and after the game Pulisic admitted that he is trying to remain positive in a tough moment.
“Physically, I feel really good, I feel really fit. I think I can do a lot of good things: help my teammates with assists, score goals, and create opportunities. Obviously, not being able to do that right now is frustrating, but I think I’m close and there are good things on the horizon,” he said.
What is remarkable given his usual consistency is that Pulisic hasn’t scored for Milan in 2026, and for the national team he is without a goal since late 2024. His spot at the World Cup is not in doubt of course, but Pochettino hopes that he can regain some form.
How the others got on
Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot both played 90 minutes in France’s friendly match against Brazil 2-1, which they won 2-1 with the latter earning praise. Both were then rested for the match against Colombia, which they won again, and worried about a knee issue for Rabiot thankfully evaporated.
Pervis Estupinan put aside his rollercoaster form at club level to put in two good matches for Ecuador. He came on as a 72nd-minute substitute in last Friday’s 1-1 draw against Morocco in Madrid, and played the entire match (also drawn 1-1) against the Netherlands on March 31 in Eindhoven.
In further positive news, Ardon Jashari is proving to be a valuable asset for Switzerland. He played 45 minutes in the 4-3 defeat against Germany on Friday before being named in the starting lineup for the next match against Norway on March 31 (the final score was 0-0).
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Croatia had a friendly win over Colombia on March 27th in which Luka Modric came on with 10 minutes remaining in the match. That was largely so he could be saved for the Brazil 60 minutes in the second match, a 3-1 defeat to Brazil. After that, the Ballon d’Or winner shared a lovely moment with Carlo Ancelotti.
Zachary Athekame got some very useful game time for Switzerland’s U21 team in their European Championship qualifiers. He played a full 90 minutes in both the 1-0 win against the Faroe Islands and the win against Estonia 21s.
how did our italian players do?
Bartesagi had a great game.