AC Milan were forced to settle for a draw in an entertaining Sunday night clash against Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armanda Maradona as they surrendered a two-goal first half lead.
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Olivier Giroud returned to haunt Napoli as he scored twice inside the opening 31 minutes, with both goals coming from headers deep in the box after crosses from the right side.
Heading into the break Stefano Pioli’s men were coasting, but then Matteo Politano halved the deficit with a smart turn and powerful shot into the roof of the net and then Giacomo Raspadori’s free-kick completed a rapid comeback.
Napoli did go down to 10 men in the closing stages with Natan shown a second yellow card, but the Rossoneri were unable to force a later winner meaning they slip to third behind Juventus. Here are five things we learned from the game…
1. Halloween haunting
After failing to score an open play goal since the first game of the season, Giroud was in dire need of something to fall his way in order to recover his form, and it happened on a ground where he has had success in each of the last two seasons.
The Frenchman scored two near identical headers – the first from a Christian Pulisic cross and the second from Davide Calabria’s – but unfortunately they were not enough to give his side a much-needed victory after two defeats in a row against Juventus and PSG.
It was vintage Giroud, and the 37-year-old seemed to take confidence from those two goals as his hold-up play improved and he got more and more involved as Milan pushed for a third goal. Now, the challenge is to keep that going and not vanish again.
However, what added a sour note to the Frenchman’s evening was not only the comeback from Napoli but also Pioli’s choice to remove him towards the end to put Luka Jovic on, with the former Chelsea player not taking his coach’s decision well at all.
Since @_OlivierGiroud_ starting playing for #ACMilan (2021/22), the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona is the stadium where he has scored the most away goals in all competitions (4).
[via @OptaPaolo] pic.twitter.com/sQFVcEzx6J
— MilanData📊 (@acmilandata) October 30, 2023
2. Lacklustre left side
Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao have previously been devastating in games against Napoli, such as when the former created the opening goal of the Champions League quarter-final tie at San Siro and when the latter’s surging run set up Giroud to make it 1-0 in Naples in the second leg.
Leao had come under scrutiny for his recent performances given that he had not scored for over a month, since the win against Hellas Verona, and he did little to answer his critics with another frustrating performance.
Both the Portuguese winger and the French full-back showed what they have done for a few weeks now: they have flashes where they look like opening the game up, but take a bad touch or make the wrong decision in the moment when it matters most.
Comparatively, Milan’s right side of Pulisic and Calabria looked far more creative. They actually picked their head up to look for the best option, and rather worryingly they also appeared to have more chemistry despite this being their first season together and not their fifth.
It was another big game – after the ones against Inter, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain – where fans are right to question the status of some of the leaders in the squad given their inability to stand up and be counter in difficult moments.
3. A captain’s battle
Davide Calabria went into battle with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia numerous times last season and although he had help often as Milan doubled-teamed the winger, it would be fair to say the full-back came off well.
The Italian faced the Georgian once again at the Maradona just as he had begun to hit form again, and Calabria responded with a near perfect performance. He had a clearance, two interceptions, seven tackles and won nine out of 13 ground duels.
He also completed one of his two crosses and what a beauty it was; a ball that hung up in the air towards the far post where Giroud leapt above Rrahmani to nod in off the far post, serving as a reminder of his creative capabilities.
Whatever it is about facing Kvaratskhelia seems to bring out the best in Calabria’s one-on-one defending as he often remains patient, lets the 22-year-old do some fancy footwork, and then times his interventions to perfection.
Of course he has some way to go that he can perform at that level consistently against all opponents, but it was certainly an answer to the doubters who believed the tussle on Milan’s right flank would be a bloodbath.
👏 Calabria and Kvaratskhelia embraced each other at full-time last night after an enthralling battle pic.twitter.com/6jovdB4rG8
— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) October 30, 2023
4. SOS (Same Old Story)
The approach to winter has become ominous for Milan, given what has happened in each of the last three seasons with regards to injuries.
Simon Kjaer, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Samuel Chukwueze, Mattia Caldara and Ismael Bennacer were all injured heading into the game, then Pierre Kalulu, Christian Pulisic and Marco Pellegrino each came off during it.
There have been 19 injuries since August, 12 of them muscular, revealing a very problematic trend. Mike Maignan, Rade Krunic, Luka Jovic, Noah Okafor, Davide Bartesaghi and Kalulu have all spent time out, among others, which has often left depth stretched.
A comparison was drawn up in a separate report which shows that the Rossoneri always seem to be in an injury crisis heading into the third game of their Champions League group stage campaign, and this year will be no different.
At the end of 2022 La Gazzetta dello Sport had calculated that from 1 July 2022 to 31 January 2022 Milan had racked up over 700 days of absence (almost 180 for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, almost 120 for Alessandro Florenzi, around 100 for Mike Maignan).
Something has to change, because having this many injuries reduces the ability to rotate, removes options from the bench to impact games and pushes the other players to their limit in terms of work rate which can make things spiral. Four seasons with such deep emergencies cannot be a coincidence.
After the Napoli match, #ACMilan have now suffered 19 injuries in the 2023-24 season with 12 of them being muscle-related.
➤ August: 2 muscle injuries
➤ September: 4 muscle injuries
➤ October: 6 muscle injuries[via @MilanNewsit] pic.twitter.com/1GjFHACVfd
— MilanData📊 (@acmilandata) October 30, 2023
5. How many times?
Milan should have been fully out of sight at half-time, and while going in with a two-goal lead is far better than most fans thought possible before the game given recent form, there was a sense of unease about the missed chances.
A third goal in that frantic 15 minutes before the interval would have surely been too much for Napoli to come back from given that the sold out crowd was already on their backs so much. The Partenopei were surrendering the ball at will in their own half, welcoming wave after wave of attacks.
Tijjani Reijnders had the chance to slide the ball to his left or right after a run towards the edge of the box but saw a shot blocked, then the Dutchman somehow missed the target from near the penalty spot after Theo’s cut-back as he aimed for the right upright.
Yunus Musah’s opportunity wasn’t as clear cut though he still had time and space to fire a low shot from inside the box – going for the far post might have been better than trying to sneak it in at the near post.
The chances were all spurned, the third goal never game and Milan took their foot off Napoli’s throats in the process. They would pay for that, and how many times have missed chances been costly this season?
