AC Milan’s top four hopes were dealt a huge blow on Saturday evening as they lost a six-pointer against Juventus 2-0 at the Allianz Stadium.
After a first half in which the two teams traded big chances, everything fell apart for Milan in a second half where they were never really at the races. It started when Samuel Mbangula’s shot deflected in off the bar, giving Juve a deserved lead.
Not too long after that they struck again through the substitute Tim Weah on the counter-attack, who got the better of Fikayo Tomori and Mike Maignan to double the advantage, which was all they needed.
The result means that the Rossoneri have tasted defeat for the first time under their new coach, and now sit six points behind Juve who are in fourth, albeit with a game in hand to play against Bologna away.
Sergio Conceicao made three changes to the side that beat Como in midweek, with Matteo Gabbia replacing the injured Malick Thiaw, Yunus Musah in for the injured Christian Pulisic, and Tammy Abraham leading the line with Alvaro Morata suspended.
Milan generated the first moment of danger inside two minutes with a rapid counter-attack from a cleared cross. Abraham did well to start it with some good hold-up play, then Tijjani Reijnders slipped through Rafael Leao whose attempted dink from close range was saved by Di Gregorio.
In what was a frantic opening to the game – at least compared to the dire 0-0 draw in November – Mbangula tried his luck with a curling shot in off the left with his right foot that looped onto the roof of the net.
Conceicao’s side continued to be quick and direct with their attacking play, and opened Juve up with a brilliant through pass from Reijnders that found Musah in behind. His cut-back landed at the feet of Leao, and only a brilliant block from Kalulu stopped an effort that was goal-bound.
Milan played themselves into trouble in the left-back position gifting possession to Koopmeiner, who rocketed a stinging shot just above the top corner.
The Rossoneri caused confusion for Juve with a well-executed corner that was straight off the training ground in the 19th minute. Theo’s delivery was aimed low at Reijnders who peeled off to the penalty spot and his first-time shot deflected just wide off Fikayo Tomori.
There was a moment of utter chaos inside the Juve box not long before the half-hour mark. Theo Hernandez galloped into the box and squared to Leao, whose low drive was blocked by Di Gregorio, then Theo had a shot blocked. After a ricochet, Gonzalez led a break for the home side that ended with the forward being crowded out when it looked like he would storm through.
Milan had two penalty shouts rejected, firstly with Reijnders having been cleaned out in the aforementioned incident and then when Gatti appeared to take out Theo inside the box with slide. Neither were even looked at.
Maignan was called into action for the first time when a ball from Cambiaso reached Yildiz on the far side of the box. The Turk shot centrally but the Frenchman parried behind, having been shuffling across to cover the goal.
After what was a slow start to the second half, Maignan stepped up with an incredible double save. Firstly the substitute Weah found space to shoot down the right side from a narrow angle and he stopped it with his midriff, then Theo was robbed of possession after claiming the rebound and Koopmeiners was then denied by the Frenchman.
In truth the home side really took the ascendancy in the early stages of the second half, with Milan unable to string passes together. The aggression of Juve’s counter-press caused huge issues and they gained heavy territorial dominance.
Just before the hour mark, Juventus took the lead and it had been coming, though it was thanks to a stroke of fortune. Thuram spread the ball wide to Mbangula on the left who fired a shot that deflected off Emerson Royal’s boot and in off the crossbar via the parry of Maignan, who had been wrong-footed a bit.
In the 63rd minute the first change came from Conceicao, who cannot have been happy with what he was seeing. Ismael Bennacer was the man who made way, replaced by Alex Jimenez in what seemed to mark a switch to a 4-3-3.
The change did not make a difference as Milan were instantly opened up and the Bianconeri made it 2-0. It was a simple through ball to Weah who got one-on-one with Tomori, biding his time then cutting onto his left foot and lashing a shot past a helpless Maignan.
The game settled into a rather predictable pattern from there of Juve defending their two-goal lead and Milan trying to get back into it. A chance came with just over 15 minutes left as Emerson came off (on a booking) for Francesco Camarda, marking a switch to two strikers.
When Milan were given a free-kick right on the edge of the box for a foul on Musah, there were flashbacks to the Supercoppa comeback against Inter. However, this time Theo’s shot was off target despite getting past the wall.
With 10 minutes to go Conceicao threw Luka Jovic and Filippo Terracciano into the fold hoping for a late miracle, but it wasn’t forthcoming as he suffered his first defeat as head coach. Camarda’s glancing header from Jovic’s cross was as close as Milan would come.
I guess we can all agree that a good coach was only part of the problem. It was painful to watch the simple mistakes we made in front of our own goal. Disasterclass…
With that lineup, can you be surprised? Emerson useless as always, attack cohesion was nonexistent, Abraham offering nothing, Jimenez still clearly inexperienced, tomori blaming everyone around him for his own mistakes, leao and Theo being lazy. It speaks volumes that Jovic and Terra played 10 minutes, and still somehow felt like 2 of the hardest trying players on the field. That is unacceptable …
The worst player is Fofana so stupid and unable to win one single duel, every player destroying him in duel like he is f**** woman.
Fofona is physically and emotionally tired.. guy had been playing every match with 95% of them 90mins
Why the diss on women?
You’re right the coach said in his interview the team is not well constructed for his own pattern of football and will only have to manage play tactically with the players he have at hand
“It speaks volumes that Jovic and Terra played 10 minutes, and still somehow felt like 2 of the hardest trying players on the field. ”
THIS!!! FFS, Terra was clearly our best midfielder today and that tells you something!!!
It was really painful to watch the game. The performance of some players was nothing short of disastrous. We really need a decent right-back, a creative midfielder, and a proper striker who can score goals. The lack of depth on our bench gives me a headache. We are down 2-0 against Juventus, and the only players we are capable of bringing out to turn the tides are Jimenez, Camarda, and Terraciano ? ? ? Shame!
I agree with you. We threw away 2 points with Cagliari, 3 points with Juve plus we have the game in hand against Bologna. That’s 8 points in total that would have brought us to 4th place and potentially fighting for the Scudetto. At this point, only the 4th place is within reach. We are done with Serie A for this season. We should try to win the Italian Cup trophy, advance as far as we can in the Champions League and finish 4th in Serie A. That would be more than a decent season. And then in the summer start e clean slate for Sérgio Conceição with proper reinforcements to fight for the titles in the 2025/26 season.
Terrible performance. Never really in it. No fight. Can’t even string any passes together. Conceicao must be livid.
Mitigating circumstances maybe injury to Puli but doubt he would have changed much by himself.
There’s no depth in this team and no one to bring in off the bench to replace burnt out midfielders.
Yep, we are all looking for something or someone that just isn’t there…..
The main problem of this squad is poorly constructed. Yes the coach is also important but tonight we saw that it ain’t the tactics but the individual failure of same players and lack of depth in the squad. Sorry but this management should have been fired with Fonseca as well. How can you get a Scudetto team and manage to turn it into horror show in 2 and half seasons is beyond me. I can only imagine what a real sporting director would have done with over 200 million spent. Disaster it will be a miracle to finish in top 4
You’re right the coach said in his interview the team is not well constructed for his own pattern of football and will only have to manage play tactically with the players he have at hand
Bring on Ibra as sub!!. Ibra the man!!
We have a long way to go, fingers crossed for Sergio, hoping he can instill some discipline in the team on the long run.
Joking aside, Ballo-Toure might be a better option than Emerson, that guy managed to somehow fool Barcelona, Tottenham and AC Milan into buying him when he should have stayed in Brazil at his level of football.
Let’s hope a good RB will be considered in the summer.
On we go Diavolo
I normally don’t tear up like the little babies in this forum about negative Milan performances. But this was the worst crap I have ever seen in my time supporting Milan. Scared, non-militant, small. They need to be torn a new one. All of them. They are not even being close to being good enough to wear the shirt.
why isnt jovic playing
There are so many mediocre players in the team. Bennacer needs to be sold; Abraham is a waste of slot, and Emerson needs to get another job. Milan needs a DM; Fofana isn’t the man. There’s no miracle this coach can do with the players available. Milan has to slowly move out 6-8 players, and bring in better quality over time.
True, management needs to awake up and see it’s better to spend 40mil on a proven player than 10-15 on 3 below average players with no proven success. It’s inevitable thing to occasionally take a punt on a young player with potential like we did with Thiaw or Kalulu, or Theo back then. But thay can’t be your only strategy
They don’t have nor need to spend €40 million on a single player, they were about to do that with Zirkzee. It’s Moncada’s racism that is the big problem. Always foreigners over Serie A based players. Dorgu and Kayode were great last season, last January was the time to do, now they’re too expensive. Barteshagi? Not given a chance. Zeroli? Not given a chance, even though Fofana is wrecked. Both Fonseca and Conceicao know the squad is garbage which is why they keep experimenting, but they need to have more courage. It’s like they’re trying to justify giving time to crap like Musah, Abraham and others just because they were signed.
AGREE 100% with CHIMA !!! Terrible structured team , we need to start shipping people out. ( Bennacer too slow )
I know how everyone feels, I am working a new method, after every current game I put a Berlusconi era game on, I watched the AC Milan game against Real Madrid the 5-1 thumping we gave them, maybe Mr Gerry Cardinale needs to do the same, Ancelotti scored a beautiful goal that day for Milan.