The first game of the new Serie A season didn’t go as Davide Calabria would have hoped, to the extent that he left the field to boos during the second half.
As MilanNews recall, Calabria was substituted off during the 82nd minute of Milan’s first game of the season against Torino at San Siro, with Noah Okafor coming on to take his place, the man who would go on to score the equaliser 13 minutes later.
However, it wasn’t just a normal change as the captain left the field amidst heavy boos from the Milan fans present, as they evidently did not appreciate the performance from the full-back which was admittedly fluctuating.
The newspapers have given him a similarly hard time, starting with La Gazzetta dello Sport who rated his performance a 5 out of 10: “The first culprit on the Granata lead, certainly not the last. But that through ball from Sanabria must never pass… From then on he struggled to recover.”
Corriere dello Sport gave him a 5: “From his lane, Zapata paints the cross into the area that gives Torino the lead. He does well to head Lazaro. He leaves amidst boos.”
Tuttosport (5.5), added: “Starts off like a rocket, but then falls back and suffers the initiatives of Zapata and Lazaro. Replaced amid boos.”
It is a strange and difficult period for Calabria, who has seen a new signing arrive in Emerson Royal with whom he will compete for a starting spot, while his contract has just 10 months left to run and there are no suggestions a renewal is close.