AC Milan got their first win of their 2024-25 Champions League campaign against Club Brugge, but it is a performance that was far from all positive.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) has their ratings from the game, starting with the team’s overall score which was given a 6.5 out of 10, and Paulo Fonseca who was awarded a grade of 7.
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The best player on the field was Tijjani Reijnders whose match-winning brace earned him an 8, while the player who struggled the most in the eyes of the paper was Emerson Royal, who got a 5.
Christian Pulisic scored the opening goal of the night directly from a corner and he was the next-best after Reijnders with a 7.5. Mike Maignan got a 7 for making saves to keep the scores as they were, while the substitutes Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze each registered assists and were given the same score.
Francesco Camarda was praised for his impact off the bench and being so close to a record-breaking goal (6.5), while Matteo Gabbia, Fikayo Tomori, Youssouf Fofana, Yunus Musah and Rafael Leao all got a passing grade of 6.
The players who struggled were Theo Hernandez, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Alvaro Morata, with each of the trio being handed a rating of 5.5 for failing to affect the game much.
A harsh score for Emerson Royal. He was by no means the worst. He definitely played better than Theo. He played with intensity in the second half and made good tackles
He was out of position on Brugge’s goal to allow the cross in, but didn’t have a bad game per se. His legs did look heavy.
Emerson wasn’t that bad.
Even when he’s not that bad (and I agree that this time, he wasn’t) he is still a defensive liability. Two great opportunities for Brugge early in the game came from his sector (thankfully Mike saved the shots that ensued), and he was one of the multiple defenders who failed in their goal.
Idk what game they watched but theo wasn’t struggling. He had more offensive then defensive duties so then guys who were supposed to cover that space are the ones who were struggling. Fofana, ‘ders and tomori imao. Tijani got a padded rating for scoring. Just remember before the subs in 60th min bruge was actually dominating us with 10 players.
Notice how most people get bad ratings but there’s always a small group that get good ratings. That is the only reason fonsesca is still here, because of a few individual players, without Pulisic he would be long gone by now
Do you ever not complain? The team is really starting to gel but you still cry.
I’m not sure how the team gets 6.5 and the coach a 7.
We were outplayed by Brugges, even with 10 men.
Eventually they tired as teams down a man do and they had to chase the game, this along with the subs gave Milan time, space and energy to take them apart in the last half hour.
Unfortunately this is one of those games people will reference when we lose again, noting how there was such undeserved rejoicing after a game where Bruges made us look amateurish .
Happy for the 3 points and to see some nice goals at the end, but let’s not kid ourselves
Indeed. Seems like people are completely incapable of being objective after we win. We didn’t play well and in the first 10-15 min, the post and Mike kept us level. Total shots 15-9. Shots on target 5-5.
I kinda doubt we’d gotten a good result if it wasn’t for the red.
It’s going to be very close if we get through or not.
Madrid will beat us and the other “smaller clubs” we face will make life difficult, and we have shown last year and this year we struggle against them even with 10 men
That’s the general euphoria that happens when he win by somewhat a big score and of course it’s easier to remember the second half than the first one.
There was a part of me that wanted the game to end 2-1 for us because that way everyone will see how crappy we were, but now everyone is acting like we were great.
Let me say this straight, Brugge had no business managing what they did manage and scoring while a man down.
From the international break we got lucky getting a sitting duck like Udinese at home and a 10 men belgian league team also at home, but we have to do much more if we want a good season.
Also, I watched Madrid yesterday, and when I see Vinicius Jr but also how they ALWAYS manage to come back regardless of the first half, I think we’re toast against them.
Of course we’re toast against them. Real Madrid are a much better team than we are, which is no secret. We had a great past but in our current version, we can’t possibly compete with Real Madrid.
I’ll be happy enough if we qualify for the play-offs as one of the 9th-24th placed teams, and if we then survive the play-offs and make it to the next round. But until we get there (if we do), Real will certainly humiliate us.
It will be worse than the Liverpool game, given that Real are better than Liverpool. I mean, Dortmund are arguably also a better team than we are (remember how we struggled against them last Champions League, and then they reached the final?) and Real had no trouble dispatching them 5-2.
I love Milan but I’m also realistic. We won’t even draw with Real, much less, beat them in their stadium. If we lose by only 1 goal and are not humiliated, we can think of it as being very lucky.
Never say never….
Imagine playing at Madrid next.
Theo wasn’t struggling..if he was then the team was struggling (talking second half onwards). Morata was devoid of service so his rating is really a reflection on others. However the guy who really struggled was RLC. Could have placed a cone on the field in the first half and the impact would have been the same. But all in all we’re pulling through games which is good. But we still have alot of work to do
RLC wasn’t struggling, because in order to struggle you have to do something and RLC did nothing yesterday.
Gerry saw RLC for Chelsea v Milan, he had a light bulb moment, we need bigger players!
RLC looks like an american footballer so it’s no surprise.
Unfortunately he had been around for years and never was consistent.
Whats worse he looks lazy
Perhaps Gerry could employ someone who knows football, or heck just read this forum. Perhaps he may learn something
Gerry doesn’t hire players. How is it you don’t understand that?
ok sure, the owner has no input.
Don’t you remember how he was quoted as wanting a more European Milan, after the Chelsea debacle
At the end of the day, the buck stops with Gerry and he has made a total mess!
Blaming Gerry for that too suits their narrative. #fakenews but they get something to rant about. Nothing you can do about it. Educating them won’t help. It will only trigger them.
Maldini played football. He was a decent player…
RLC hes been around for a year but he has always struggled with minutes because of injuries. He is a good player for certain situations off the bench…but he disappears. In general doesn’t move very well.
“Loftus-Cheek was heavily linked with a move to Milan in the weeks leading up to the end of the 2022-23 season when Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara looked to be lining up business for the summer.
Their sacking then caused the rumours to slow down, but by the time they fired back up again things moved very quickly from an initial offer to the player being due in Italy for a medical at La Madonnina clinic.”
RLC doesn’t really fit in so well after Fonseca took charge, neither next to Fofana, nor further up front. Seems out of position at all times. Odd.
If he isn’t specifically in the double pivot, he will stay high in the half space or in the middle, but he doesn’t have the agility to make himself available in the build-up. Fofana stays with the CB regardless of if he’s in the pivot by himself or with someone else. So the buildup is really left to Reijnders and Theo, as Emerson isn’t much on the ball. Sometimes, Pulisiic will come into the middle to help Reijnders. But with Emerson not being a progressor and Fofana remaining deep, the movement becomes very left-sided.
i dont know which game your watching but theo was better than roya and leao should have been 6.5