AC Milan may not have got the result they wanted against Chelsea on Tuesday – mainly due to more awful officiating – but the performance of Ismael Bennacer again stood out as a bright spot.
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MilanNews recalls how the early red card and 1-0 deficit for Milan meant that they had to take a lot of risks to create dangerous opportunities to get back into the game especially in the middle of the park, where Bennacer led the team in a moment of difficulty.
Having signed from Empoli in 2019 it has been a gradual rise for the Algerian midfielder, who had some growing pains but was vital in the Scudetto win last season and is confirming himself to be at the level of European football in 2022-23 so far as well.
It was thanks to him that Milan almost drew level shortly after going behind against Graham Potter’s side as he took out four pressing Chelsea players with a pass behind him that he somehow found Theo Hernandez with, opening up the field for Theo Hernandez to go on one of his runs before Olivier Giroud headed Brahim Diaz’s cross wide.
Bennacer is one of the young leaders of the team along with the likes of Tomori, Kalulu, Theo, Tonali and Leao, and it is obvious that Milan do not want to lose a player of his quality.
A renewal will be needed given his deal runs out in 2024 and while talks started some time ago, they were postponed due to the change of ownership from Elliott Management to Gerry Cardinale and RedBird. Now things are official, one of Maldini and Massara’s main objectives is to extend his deal.
