AC Milan’s attack is certainly not experiencing its best moment, and the data lays bare the struggles of all five forwards.
La Gazzetta dello Sport have the numbers to hand which demonstrate just how bad the crisis is. Milan’s forwards in 2026 have needed on average three shots to hit the goal (register a shot on target) and 13.5 shots to score.
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Christian Pulisic, Rafael Leao, Christopher Nkunku, Niclas Fullkrug and Santiago Gimenez have scored eight goals since New Year’s Eve, despite 34 shots on target and 93 total shots. That’s too many, and it perhaps partially explains the struggles in terms of results too, because goals win games.
Why the decline?
Massimiliano Allegri has changed his forward pairings several times, and on Saturday he added a new card: using a front three with Alexis Saelemaekers. It went badly, and the situation in general is worrying because no one at Milan looks even remotely in form.
Pulisic hasn’t scored since the Christmas holidays, Leao is struggling with the San Siro jeers, Nkunku is buried on the bench, Füllkrug was disappointing from the start against Napoli, and Gimenez didn’t even come on against Udinese. They attackers are not doing well, physically or mentally.
Their seasonal trend is unusual. Leao is the top scorer with nine league goals, thanks in part to a pair of penalties. Pulisic was at his level in the first half of the season, and Nkunku has scored five goals in just over a month, when he had Allegri’s trust. Gimenez hasn’t scored yet, and Füllkrug only once.
Inter twice as precise
The comparison with other Champions League teams says it all. Calculating 2026 so far, Milan’s forwards need 13.5 shots (or 4.5 shots on target) to score, as mentioned above. Juventus has slightly better numbers, but the situation is different with the others.
Napoli need only 8.5 shots to score, Como 7.7 and Inter just 5.7. The difference is very large. This means that Milan need more than double the number of shots to score compared to their city rivals. For a team that doesn’t create as many chances, this is definitely a problem.
The goals scored table confirms the gulf: Inter have 75 points and 75 goals scored, Milan 63 points and only 47 goals scored. This gap is made up by the forwards: Lautaro has 16 goals, Thuram 10, Esposito six and Bonny five.
The most in crisis
Pulisic has had 32 shots in total in 2026, with 12 on target, and has not scored. Is this the same player who in the previous two and a half years would suddenly appear in the box, in the right place at the right time, and always sent shots on goal?
Leao, who now seems to be struggling, has done better: in the calendar year, he’s scored four goals and had 12 shots on target. Füllkrug and Nkunku have had far fewer minutes and, inevitably, have been less dangerous: they’ve had five appearances each in three and a half months.
It’s shocking. Allegri, who is anything but a statistics fanatic, knows these numbers. Against Verona, the second-worst defence in the league, he’ll use two strikers, not more than two. Choosing the right pairing is the weekend’s puzzle.
