AC Milan had a mountain to climb in the second leg of the Champions League fixture against Inter after losing the first game 2-0, and they failed to do so.
The spotlight was on Rafael Leao to be the game-changer this time, but he wasn’t enough for the Rossoneri who lost 1-0 on the night and therefore 3-0 on aggregate against their city rivals over the two legs.
The game started off well for Milan, who looked much better than the previous game as they were more aggressive and compact. However, it must be remembered that Inter had a two-goal cushion and were not as aggressive as they were last time out, because they simply didn’t need to be.
Brahim Diaz and Leao each missed chances in the first half to halve the deficit and really reopen the contest, but in the end it was Lautaro Martinez who buried a feed from Romelu Lukaku with 16 minutes to go and killed the tie. Here are five things we learned…
1. Anti-climactic return
Whilst Milan looked like a different team with Rafael Leao on the pitch, he wasn’t enough for the Rossoneri to turn the tie around.
Leao didn’t look fit enough to be more of a menace for Inter excluding a couple of bursts he had, and we do have to acknowledge that Simone Inzaghi’s side did well to mark him out of the game leaving little for him to work with.
Despite his not-so-brilliant performance, it was obvious that Inter’s attention was on him and that left a lot of space on the opposite flank.
Unfortunately for Milan the quality there was subpar as Junior Messias had plenty of chances to make something happen and manage to actually cut inside, but every time his end product was dreadful highlighting how dependent Milan are on Leao and how one-sided the team is.
This underwhelming attacking performance highlights the need for investment in that area if Milan wants to improve and the investments need to be ones that solve the issue immediately, not players like Charles De Ketelaere who need time and patience to grow.
2. Improved, but not enough
The defensive display was much better this time around and the decision Pioli took to play Malick Thiaw instead of Simon Kjaer seemed to have paid off as the German handled Edin Dzeko much better and understandably so, as he has the athleticism and physicality.
Fikayo Tomori also did a better job and the gaps were more on the flanks this time around as Inter had no trouble getting the ball wide and then crossing it low, with Davide Calabria and Theo Hernandes giving too much space to Dimarco and Dumfries.
The Frenchman did much better in attack compared to Calabria, but at this stage of the tournament the devil is in the details and everyone in the back four have room for improvement.
Thiaw also picked up an injury in the second half and was replaced by Kalulu, who gave Lautaro all the space he needed for Inter’s goal as he chose to get close to Lukaku even though there were four players already there and the Argentine was left all alone.
3. Urgency becomes emergency
Olivier Giroud has had an underwhelming few months after the World Cup to say the least, and a lot of that might be due to fatigue as Pioli plays him every single game purely because of the fact that there is nobody on the bench that can take his place.
Even if there was a striker on the bench the management should be thinking of a striker that can slot in the starting XI since Giroud just doesn’t provide the team with enough quality at this point, at least not at this level and not every single game.
With Leao being the main threat, Milan need more firepower up front and a striker that is more mobile and can actually dribble and create for himself.
This would be a massive reinforcement which would allow the 36-year-old to rest and would then allow Pioli to play the former Chelsea man when the time is right and when he can make a difference.
4. To stay or not to stay
Brahim Diaz has always divided the fans and has continued to do so this season. A couple of amazing games against Napoli really made the fans love him, but despite that he has been very poor throughout the whole season generally and he offers little to nothing in most games.
Against Inter he tried to dribble a bit too much a lost the ball on multiple occasions, something which usually is not the issue with him as the issue is usually his decision-making in the final third.
He hit a new low to be honest, and one might think that Milan would be crazy to spend €20m or more on a permanent signing, especially with the rumours that Kamada might be very close to joining on a free transfer and has proved to be more consistent than the Spaniard.
Time will tell, but Diaz isn’t showing anything to make the management pay what is needed excluding the occasional super performance, and it just might be that Italian football isn’t for him after all due to the physicality.
5. Three bright spots
We finish off with the positives. Mike Maignan was the reason that Milan lost just by two goals in the first game and he continued to keep his team in the game with spectacular saves in the second leg. It was a really good performance from the Frenchman, but the players in front of him were not up to the task.
Thiaw was another one that had a great night and had no issues taking care of either Dzeko or Lautaro. Unfortunately, he was subbed off and shortly after Milan conceded, highlighting how good he was on the night. A really impressive showing and he should be starting every game at this point.
The third positive was Tonali, who really tried to make things happen as he fought a lot and ran a lot, and provided some very good balls for his team-mates in attack which were all wasted.
The Italian has shown throughout the two matches that he isn’t afraid of the big games and even likes taking on the responsibility and excluding a couple of mistakes, one of which on the second goal in the first leg, he has nothing to be ashamed of as he played wonderfully.
