AC Milan clinched three very important points in their pursuit of a top 8 finish in the Champions League, beating Girona by the odd goal tonight. Three players stood out and below are the ratings for the Rossoneri.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out how we decide the player ratings. From the scale to what affects the rating, we have compiled everything there.
Starting XI
Maignan (7): The captain saved Milan from conceding in the first half with two big saves, one before the goal and one after. It could have been a very different game without those saves so a high rating is certainly justified here.
Emerson Royal (N/A): It was written in the stars. Less than two minutes into the game, he went down with an injury after a collision and had to be subbed off. It remains to be seen how this injury, if it actually is an injury, will affect his rumoured exit.
Gabbia (6.5): He sold himself a bit on a chance in the first half, more specifically van de Beek’s dribble, but played well after that. In addition to winning duels, he used his positioning in a good way to limit Girona’s attackers, especially with the game being quite open.
Pavlovic (7): The Serbian played his first game in a long time and responded in a brilliant fashion. He had to make up for a certain left-back, who wasn’t great in defence tonight, and was responsible for several great tackles and interceptions. He also wasn’t afraid to drive forward with the ball, even if his passing is still a mixed bag. But the defending, his man task, was really good tonight.
Hernandez (4.5): It was far from a good night for him. He missed a big chance in the first half which he had to score, and then he wasted another great one in the second. On Girona’s marginal offside goal, he failed to close down Gil and the away side created a lot on his flank tonight. He looked very sluggish and certainly lacked focus.
Bennacer (7): Great stuff from him tonight. He had a fantastic work-rate, as always, and it was a great interception as well as assist for Leao’s goal. This is the first time we have seen proper signs of the ‘Old Isma’ since he returned from the injury. He just needs to continue like this and he will be pivotal in Conceicao’s system.
Fofana (6.5): Conceicao clearly gave him a role to press high and even so, he tracked back nicely in many situations. He also made several interceptions and started a few counter-attacks by driving forward with the ball, setting up his teammates.
Musah (5.5): It was almost third time’s the charm for him. First, he missed a great chance to shoot himself as he opted to square it to absolutely no one. Then a similar chance arose, and this time it was right to pass but the hit wasn’t good enough. Finally, he struck a lovely effort which hit the inside of the post. Mistake before goal. The first half had ups and downs (mostly the latter), in other words, but he recovered in the second and was solid.
Reijnders (6.5): Not a spectacular display by any means, but he was very important in the pressing phase as he always worked hard. The Dutchman also combined well with his teammates on several occasions and after a couple of ‘slow games’, we finally saw some good runs forward from him as well. For example, he played a very nice pass to Leao, who then set up Theo’s big chance.
Leao (7.5 – MOTM): The Portuguese international was lively even before the goal as he made life difficult for Girona from the start. That being said, the goal was the main highlight with some really good dribbling and a powerful finish. It ended up being the winner as well, so the MOTM award feels right.
Morata (5.5): Once again, as seen in some games recently, he isn’t quick enough on the ball to capitalise on his good positioning at the start of attacks/counter-attacks. He also had a couple of tame shots that didn’t threaten the Girona keeper. There seems to be no upside at the moment, even in situations when he does something good it’s often followed by something bad (or vice versa).
Substitutes
Calabria (6): It’s really strange that Conceicao didn’t play from start, especially given the Emerson exit rumours. In any case, the former captain came on and played well, battling through some shoulder pain in the first half.
Abraham (5.5): He didn’t really have that many chances to do something up front, but the feeling is still that he could have done something more during his time on the pitch. After all, he got about 30 minutes.
Pulisic (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give a proper rating, but he looked good on the ball on a couple of occasions.
Terracciano (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give a proper rating
Harsh on Abraham and Musah IMO, tireless work from both. Yes, Tammy was only on the pitch for 30 mins but he spent that time doing the tracking running of whichever midfielder was further forward, which was exactly what was needed from him. I thought Pavlovic was a bit chaotic, dominant in some areas but wild in others – pleasantly surprised by him on the ball though, helped escaped several pressing situations where I was worried.
Royal might have had a slight collision but it looked like he mis-stepped afterwards so i assume its a strain that probably will keep him out for a month or longer but hopefully its nothing and he wiill actually still be shipped out.
I think we can be pretty happy about the match and especially the first half…except for the final product as both Theo and Musah should have scored a goal and that is excluding Musahs shot on the post.
Second half it seemed a bit more wonky at times but I can fully understand that we towards the end tried to drag out time more as there was so much at stake had we drawn the match.
Overall a pretty good performance in my view.
Lol, Royal injured within 5 min. I called it!!! Why the f*ck was he even in the starting lineup? Watch us get stuck with this guy until the summer. Oh and if Royal isn’t sold now, where is the money coming from for other areas? What a debacle. Another good show from the club that can’t get out of its own way.
Yeah I think Conceição at least in this regard messed up starting him even if its also a bit about bad luck but he really shouldn’t have risked him, lets hope he just got a bruise or something but from the looks of the situation I wouldn’t be too surprised if he is out for some time.
The mercato ends way sooner than that trashcan could pass any medical for any club. Like I’ve said, we’re stuck with him until the end of time. FFS.
It certainly could be the likely scenario for now.
Ladies and gentlemen
got this and that so won and won Rafa, Kyle and now Luka Jovic finally should have it fit yeah
Well, we won by a toenail.
Bennacer is MOTM . Vintage performance.
Pavlovic was an absolute beast. Our best defender by a mile.
I truly hope management is not trying to sell him, it would be a huge mistake. He has all the tools to be a great defender, just needs a little time.
Theo the worst player on the pitch. We used to tolerate Theo’s poor defense because of what he brought offensively. Now that his offense is poor as well, what exactly does he bring to the team? Must be that great leadership..
Isaac again with the ridiculously overly-generous rating to Calabria. I can’t think of a single positive thing he did. I can easily name several mistakes.
“battling through shoulder pain”. You mean the injury he faked to try and cover for giving the ball away just outside the box? You are truly something Isaac. That same performance gets Emerson a 5 rating every time.
You literally can’t go 5 minutes without getting angry that eveyone else recognizes Calabria does better than Emerson, can you little guy? Nobody cares that you bought an Emerson jersey and wanna justify it buddy. Hush little plastic
By everyone you mean a few deranged children posting in Sempre Milan? Because the two different professional football coaches we had this year would disagree with you.
Kyle Walker can’t get here fast enough
Deranged children 😀 well I’m 45 and i can concur that Calabria is a better defender than Royal can ever dream of to become and you know what the greater consensus amongst Milan supporters align with that view as well and he actually did quite well today.
Royal on the other hand is an anchor dragging us down to the bottom of the ocean.
I’m 44 Calabria is better than Emerson, who now will now hopefully be sold.
How many players can you name who were sold 6 months after signing? Not a great look for him
And the fact that Calabria couldn’t beat him out says what?
To all of you fools on here making these utterly embarrassing comments, show me one post where I ever said Emerson was a good player, a good signing, or praised him at all.
All I ever did was answer the question that you guys ask in every comment… How does Emerson keep starting over Calabria??/. Because he’s better. And both coaches agree.
Never said anything else about him. Everything else is just stuff you have to make up in your head because you don’t have an answer for that.
You guys are splitting atoms and are arguing about nothing at all really …
Walker is here. We need to rally behind him and find a younger alternative and move away from both Calabria and Emerson …
I’m 54 and think they both suck (now). Why are we listing our ages?
Scott if you read K’s 2nd comment you would realize that he said “By everyone you mean a few deranged children” hence why some of us mentioned our age as he simply made up some bs as there was also an article from Tuesday with a video clip from training where Royal almost injured Jovic in a completely reckless tackle and it was easy to see that 99% of people was not happy about the brazilian.
Kiddo, you’re literally known on this site as “that clown that kisses Emersons ass every game”. Go look at the post of him from yesterday and see exactly what people think about him. A post you were conveniently silent on…
Ian are you black country lad 🤔🤔👌🏻kiddo
K opinion dosent matter really he meatrides emerson and is probaly a tottenham fan that just spawned in here
I’m 40 and Calabria is a lot better than Emerson.
Now, you should stop sucking Emerson balls and shut up, oh deranged children.
I was talking intellectually and maturity wise, children. And the ignorant, juvenile comments by you and Ian just prove me right. You’re not embarrassed as a 40 year old to be leaving comments like this? You should be.
I’ll correct my statement to a bunch of forty-somethings that have the intellectual capacity of deranged children. Better?
Sorry man I am 57 and realize that there are many reason players get picked beyond fitness and quality. You are so thoughtful but seem to miss that politics is always in play when 2 or more humans are working together.
Please enlighten me on the politics at play here, since you clearly have some inside information into the inner workings at Milan. Two different coaches here as well.
If there is some shadow ban at play here by management why would he start Calabria against Cagliari ? Why not Terraciano, Bartesaghi or Jimenez?
Why would they start Emerson even in this match when they are trying to sell him?
Im just going by what the coaches do. You have speculation and conspiracy theories.
Again that is shallow reasoning and the implied accusation of speaking about specifics of which I know nothing unwelcome.
The basis of your argument is One dimensional. It is based on the idea that Fonseca and Sarge Shows Emerson therefore, Emerson is superior to Calabria. Fails to acknowledge any other possible contributing factors. So I am not suggesting a shadow ban. I am suggesting that something more complex does it play.
Simply put, and only a theory, Management has said that Calabria will not return next year, regardless of performance. Instructions would be play Calabria minimally, but always with an eye towards winning. Again, I am sure that my version is also overly simplified, but equally reasonable when compared to your own.
Take someone to task for being juvenile and rightly so. I didn’t bite you to inspect the substance of your argument and realize that while not juvenile it is in fact, shallow.
Concerning conspiracy theories, the basis of my so-called conspiracy is in fact, the observation that management has refused to renew Calabria. I’m not sure how that observation is any less concrete than yours that two coaches have not played him.
Again, the arguments are not similar at all. I’m just simply stating what two different coaches who are trying to win games actually did.
You are just speculating and trying to make excuses as to why they did that because it doesn’t fit in to what you think.
One is clear cut. The other is just pointless because it’s just in your imagination and there is no way to prove it.
You can just say you don’t agree with the coaches choice but creating other scenarios because you can’t deal with the fact that they don’t Agee with you is weak.
@MYKIDPLAYSSOCCER
And why do you think they have decided not to renew Calabria?
Why do you think they signed Emerson in the first place?
Why do you think they just signed Walker?
Could it be because Calabria is not good enough? Maybe?
Can’t wait to see all the top teams get in a bidding war for Calabria when the season is over.
I imaged that there was a decision that Calabria is not to be re-signed. Got it. I’ll stop wasting electrons now. Cheers.
I agree completely..also I’m still 54 (see above)..
No, they are definitely not going to resign Calabria, and there is a good reason for that. The same reason he has not been starting. They don’t think he is good enough. What you are imagining, is that because they are not going to resign him, they have ordered two different coaches to play a far worse player than him at the expense of losing games. And that two different coaches, neither of which seem like yes men just decided that they would go along with that even if it costs them their job. It’s not like they are trying to sell him, so they don’t have to worry about him getting hurt. And they do play him whenever Emerson is out, so it’s not like they told him not play him. Even when they are about to sell Emerson, they still played him over Calabria, so explain me that one?
That’s a lot of mental hurdles you are jumping thru rather than just accepting that these two coaches do not agree with you.
Occam’s razor: The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.
Forget politics and all the nonsense. K is absolutely right. Bottom line: Calabria (and Emerson as well so far) are not good enough for Milan. Why?
We all watched him play for I don’t how many seasons now, and he’s never been that great. He’s technical abilities are verona-level, and he’s athletic abilities today are even lower. You talk about Fonseca and Conceicao, but in all these years I can’t remember Calabria been called up to the national team, or even considered one of the best RB in the league. And that’s the bare minimum we need: One of the best RB in the league.
Everyone I saw on here was screaming for Milan not to sign Emerson. Think they were right. So I think you can listen to them.
Calabria must’ve genuinley stolen your woman ot something. The extent to which you will hat him for nothing, and defend every useless Emerson performance at this point is almost worthy of admittance to a therapist. You need help kiddo. Delusion at this level is concerning
You’re so mad Emerson won’t be your boyfriend that you take it out on Calabria.
What are you talking about? Pavlovic our best defender?! What about Emmerson? SMH
It strikes me as odd that you would call Pavlovich our best defender, and not Gabbia. Gaby’s positioning, and clear command of space, and basic calmness as what allowed Pavlovich to be a chaotic force he was.
Get me wrong I believe it had a good game, but he is not a defender to anchor the details yet. Do you like to see this guy get two years to develop. This year he gets the Italian education next year he shows that he can actually learn and apply. With his physical characteristics, he has a very high ceiling, but that will be severely limited if he cannot prove that his mental characteristics are equally great potential
It strikes me as odd that anyone who watched the match would think differently. I haven’t seen the stats yet but I’d be shocked if he didn’t lead the team in tackles, clearances, interceptions. Maybe Bennacer had more. Dominated in the air.
It strikes me as odd you still somehow think anyone down here is gonna agree with your brain dead takes
He’s talking season wide, not just this game, K.
IMO Pavlovic had to be chaotic because of Theo being absent. A couple of instances where you can see that Gabbia Pavlovic havent played together that much but, after 30 mins or so, i’d say they where solid as a pair. Gabbia is going to be great. I was suprised by Pavlovic speed. Didnt know he could track back as fast as he could.
I recently checked top speeds of all of our players this season and Pavlovic was either the second or third fastest player in regard of reached top speed so he is by no means slow.
likewise. I think both did well. Gabbia seemed more composed. But cant really blame Pavlovic on it. He hasnt played in a while, tons of negative media etc. I was surprised how fast he was and how good was in the air. i saw multitple times Pavlovic being the one winning crosses.
He was chaotic tho. I agree there. Or at a min, he looked nervous.
“The stats line is impressive: Pavlovic had five clearances, two interceptions, three tackles, three ground duels won, three out of three aerial duels won and completed 91% of his passes plus three long balls.
Seems I was right.
Calabria is better than Emerson. The coaches only pick Emerson cause we spend money for him and Calabrias contract is running out.
100%!
They both suck.
No one is better than the other.
Ladies and gentlemen
got this and that so won and won and
won and Rafa, Kyle and now Luka Jovic finally should have it fit yeah
Also the 5.5 rating for Musah is a complete insult. He played well and was very unlucky not to have scored a great goal. The bias from Isak on full display again.
Buddy, only bias is you hating every Italian player we’ve employed the past 3 seasons. Hush
From a Milan team playing against minows Girone I expect a good performance. I came to the conclusion that the players’ fitness sucks as at the time of Pioli. The players either they do not want to obey their manager and press high or they are not fit to keep up with the opponents. The number of injuries also indicates a lack of fitness. To be honest, I do not expect the team to advance to the final with this kind of fitness. I hope I am wrong and proven otherwise.
Yeah but it’s expected either Musah or Pulisic or both
Isma bias with Musah is not something I have noted. Puli absolutely.
In this case I agree the rating was way too low for a 20 yr old who is playing yet another role. He covered every blade of grass on the right, created chances and got off a screamer of a shot. Each week he improves and most of it mentally. Again, the Italian education taking time to sink in.
But Musah lived in Italy as a kid and speaks Italian as well. So it’s not so much about integration and eduction with him. It’s more about finding his perfect position and role.
He’s a wild card I’ve never seen before in football. James Milner comes to mind but he was on a whole different level. Highly intelligent player.
Sorry I meant how Italians play football, not language and culture.
The diff between how the game is played in Serie A v La Liga or Such League is almost entirely in the head first.
I often think it would be very interesting.to have our bottom teams play those of.the Prem etc. our tactical discipline and positioning would be more obvious. I believe the number of and dand for Italian coaches abroad shows this to some extent
3 Italian teams in UCL top 8 is another bit of evidence.
Man, Fofana was chasing and tracking everything that moved, a very hard worker, same as Bennercer, the team played well except for Theo who was somehow trying to undo the teams effort with every single move a very disgusting attitude riddled with a full dose of unseriousness.
Our CB pairing was awesome, like I said before now, Tomori brings the worse of anyone he is paired with, all of a sudden Pavlovic want chasing the game or having to chase down 3 players at once because Gabbia did his job well. Having said that Tomori shouldn’t be starting or even playing when we have no injuries at CB.
Good game from Calabria, can’t believe Emerson get to play over Calabria. Theo needs to bring his head back to the game.
We need a DM urgently and a winger, maybe we can manage the CF we have till the end of the season.
Yep. Tomori is a headless chicken. Gabbia-Thiaw should be our starting CB pair. Unfortunately, with the kind of pressing game that Conceicao wants to play, the speed of Tomori is being valued over the quality if Gabbia. Oh well.
I get the speed thing but if constantly the CBs positioning is bad the pace is useless, as it was useless against Juve. Tomori is all round bad now and with his so many shouting and complaining, he just leaves alot to be desired.
it makes me wonder how they do in training. Most of us see calabria being a better defender, worse on offense (not that Royal is a beast on offense), but overall better. YET, both Fonseca and Conceicao prefer Royal over him. He might be doing something right in training that we do not see.
Same for Pavlo. who knows. Thoughts on Thiaw-Gabbia pairing? They’d be slow but i mean since when being fast is a requirement for CBs? . If that was a requirement, Nesta, Stam, Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Thiago Silva, etc. wouldnt have made it. It helps, i get it, but it shouldnt be top requirement.
Good first half, poor second, but a win is a win.
Very good game by Leao, both offensively and in the press, tracking back. Great goal. Needs to continue like this.
Bennacer was also very good, his best game in over 2 years.
Pavlovic has some very good traits as a defender but he is too wild and undisciplined with his positioning, while often tries to do way too much.
Gabbia was solid as always. Better game by Fofana and Reijnders.
Musah is similar to Pavlovic. Very wild.
Morata got zero service again.
Maignan solid.
Calabria did good, but with Emerson out at least people now can notice how poor the best left back in the world is. Got saved by a toenail.
Good win even though the team suffered way too much in the 2nd half. Now everything depends on them. Win in Zagreb and you are in the top 8.
Bennacer was instrumental in our run to CL semis in 2023
Rade Krunic was instrumental in our run to the semis in 2023.
Bennacer lost his spot in the double pivot to Krunic. The team started playing better once Pioli made that change after the worst month in Milan history.
Milan got passed Tottenham in the round of 16 without Bennacer.
Also, we are in 2025. 2023 is 2 years ago.
Bennacer was instrumental in Milan getting knocked out by Roma in the Europa league quarter finals last season. By far the worst player on the pitch in both games.
As I said his best game in over 2 years.
Clearly those great games of his playing AM were less than 2 years ago sir
Mighty Tottenham! Lol. Isn’t that the season they finished mid-table?
You do remember that Bennacer played both games against Napoli right ?
You do remember that he scored the goal that sealed the win and our qualification to the semis and overall played very well right ?
To say that he LOST his position to Krunic, is like saying Pulisic lost his position to Chukwueze or Musah at some point. In the end the one who lost his position against Napoli was Messias.
Morata got great service twice, wasted both opportunities.
Ha ha ha.
But then again we already know that you consider every attempt of a pass by “Rafa” as a great service and a scoring chance.
Zero service for Morata and Abraham, again.
Morata was making the right runs but Milan wingers and midfielders were instead shooting.
No, I said that Rafa’s great passes to Musah and Theo should have been scores but they missed sitters. I said that ultimately even the pass to Morata, less clearly, was also a missed opportunity. Morata shot wide directly at an opponent instead of shooting on target although the pass was good. If you didn’t see that play, it’s not my fault Then there was another pass to Morata, I don’t recall by whom, and Morata produced a weak, lame shot that the goalkeeper stopped easily. So, saying that Morata got no service can only be by someone who didn’t pay attention or didn’t watch the game.
You complimented Leao on a good performance, thank you. Give credit where credit is due and constructive criticism where it’s due.
All the more proof Calabria Pavlovic and Gabbia need to stay as the back four with the current players we have. Pav offers far more than the current version of tomori. Gabbia never should’ve been dropped at all, easily our best defender. Calabria already should’ve been playing over Emerson, even more when he went up for transfer, but we risked it and now will get nothing, so avoidable…great to see leao when he’s feeling it like today, still think he should be pushed further up if we’re moving toward 442. Bennacer looking more back to pace finally, still probably our best passer atm. Still don’t understand the Jovic mistreatment. Both our striker options outside of him have proven borderline useless, especially today, what does he have to do to get some actual minutes? He’s a proven poacher does well in link up, and rn that’s more than were getting in Tammy or missrata. We need to be more decisive to survive the next round, 17 shots and only 1 goal. Maybe if we stop disrespecting teams and offer more than 15mil for Gimenez…
I agree about Jovic being mistreated but even if the coach wanted to utilize him today then he isn’t part of our CL squad so he isn’t available for selection as he was excluded from the get go of the tournament.
Must’ve forgotten that, appreciate the reminder👍shame we don’t have him or Jimenez either on the list
No worries and glad to be of service, Yeah Jimenez could also have offered some value to this cl squad. After the last group match I believe we can add 2 new players if we remove two, obviously if it fits the criterias of homegrown players etc.
Pavlović deliveres yet again. Also can’t belive Undead Reijnders got a full 1.0 more then lively Musah.
Yeah I would agree
Calabria is a fool. You get a yellow for mouthing off to the ref and will miss the next game. As usual, harsh on Musha. This was Bennacer’s best game.
No surprise to see Bennacer gradually finding form after a long lay off.
A bit similar to Kalulu they were rushed back last year while not fully fit because of our injury crisis and they got reinjured.
Let’s hope he can keep it up as we desperately need him and he has midfield guile no other player has.
Great goal by Rafa and good effort .
Theo at least he is trying again, though he is woefully out of form. I’d like to see Pavlovic play LB to give him a rest. Happy for Pavlovic to have had a good game but he is still very wild and not ready for the better opposition yet
Tiji is working hard like last season but seems to have lost the magic he had under Fonseca.
Context: Girona were already out, so this was a laboured win, and they were unlucky to have goal ruled out.
We seem to be playing kick and rush football. I’d hope the manager would try to maintain possession better and work on some attacking patterns.
Also didn’t love all the time wasting against a team like Girona at 1-0 up
Good result but we need to be better. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for adequate reinforcements
Where have you been bro? Kick and rush is precisely Conceicao’s MO. And it’s precisely the type of ball we need to be playing with the players we have.
I don’t care much for the ratings because they are very subjective. What I did notice, though is that even against the teams of Girona‘s caliber, we are still having to make critical last ditch tackles. We’re still not solid defensively. I’m afraid that we’re getting knocked off by better teams in the next stage…
It’s already 22 January and the only deal done so far is for Kyle Walker. There are still very obvious and evident gaps in the team. And if there’s any hope of improving our standings domestically and advancing deeper in champions league, those holes need to be plugged. This management is running out of time.
Vener looked a lot better this game, but overall still inconsistent. Tammy and Morata are both not offering very much in front of goal. Mosa is also inconsistent on the right wing. Does one thing right than the next thing wrong. And we have no debt to replace midfield players outside of Terra.
Pavlovic needs time. In a league known for its defending, foreign defenders often need a year or even two to adjust. The Serbian needs more time and more minutes. While Kyle Walker’s arrival couldn’t be at a better time given the Brazilian’s injury and Calabria’s inconsistent form.
Glass very much half full.
Vener=Bennacer …
It can only be Pavlovic.Leao was ok,but not MOTM in any way.Fofana superb,gabbia ok,Morata failed again.Strahinja—top!
Leao not MOTM in any way? LOL. He scored the winner which was a golazo, and set up his companion 3 TIMES to kill the game but they missed sitters (Musah, Theo and Morata). Also helped with defense. By far, by very far our best player tonight and ALL professional football journalists in Italy are saying the same. But hey, some dude in the Internet thinks he was just OK and not MOTM. LOL
He was easily MOTM. And he’s working hard defensively which is what I’ve wanted to see from him.
Leao was ok,very good,no doubt.It is always hard to compare defenders and attackers statistics.Winner ok,but scoring winner itself does not mean that someone is MOTM.I am not judging notes as a fan,I am in football over 40 years as a player and trainer.Pavlović did not made any mistakes,not a single one,he was superb in box,outside the box,even on Girona half.Few clearings,superb won all sprints,almost all passes played well(short/long,straight,diagonal).Leao was good,of course he was good,but as usual he was not enough involved (or not active/agressive)in covering his side,what caused issues for Theo,and again Pavlović who corected Theo afterwards.Leao is great in first two steps,maybe best in the world,but there is plenty of room to improve his pass game(low/high)and shoot,especialy.To score winner is fine,great….doesnt mean someone is MOTM
Rafa was a force in every phase of the game. He looked more like Puli in terms of work rate and commitment than Rafa of old.
Puli work rate and off the ball impact with Rafa size and skill – that starts to look like “best in the world”. I was a big detractor, and I am happy to be wrong and excited to see what more he brings each week.
I don’t know why pavlovic was just thrown aside. I LOVE the way he plays. Although not perfect his tackling, positioning strength and heart were amazing tonight. I hope he gets more chances because he definitely should be given more time.
Gabbia was good again. Theo poor, Calabria just Calabria. When he tried to control it with his chest and gave it the guy in stride.
Musah deserves more than that. He made some mistakes and should have shot more but he was non stop running and working.
Bennacer that was the old bennacer that we knew. I hope he can finally stay healthy and keep this up!
Leao has shown that he wants to play under conceicao. He’s running more and seems to be wanting to sacrifice himself. All in all a very important win and I hope we can build on this.
BTW, gimenez scored two goals vs bayern tonight. Bring him and walker in!
Lol, you can forget Gimenez now. The price just went up another 10M. Feyenoord is still well in this competition as well, and they’re fighting to qualify again in the league. Anyone thinking Gimenez is going to arrive now (or possibly ever) is smoking some good stuff.
Let’s realize that this wasn’t a good display by Milan, against a rather weak team; we failed to comfortably kill the game, and also gave the lowly Girona way too many opportunities to score (were saved by a toe, literally, in their disallowed goal). Great, we’re 6th place and only depend on ourselves to get the top 8 if we beat Zagreb, but they are 26th, 2 points from the playoffs, and will try much harder to win the game; if we play as badly against them, we may draw or lose.
———-
Mike saved 3 essential opportunities by Girona. He was beaten by a very good shot in their disallowed goal but that shot was impossible to stop. 7.5 as we wouldn’t have won without him.
Emerson, no vote; why oh why did Conceição start him? He may have ruined our opportunity to get rid of him.
Calabria, not 100% with a foot injury, hasn’t played a lot lately so in these circumstances, very good display, the few opportunities he got, he’s been better than Emerson (not in itself a hard thing to do). 6
Gabbia, one mistake with no consequence early on but then solid all the way. 6.5
Pavlovic, for someone who has been out for so long, he was quite essential especially in the last 25 minutes of the game when he did stop some dangerous attacks by Girona. 7
Theo, missed an incredible sitter set up by Rafa, then missed another one in second half, made defensive mistakes, Milan’s worst player tonight. 4.5
Fofana, back to good form after a stretch of showing signs of exhaustion. Several good actions. Helped Mike with saving one of the scoring opportunities that Girona had. 7
Reijnders, took a good free kick that could have been a score if not for a great save by their goalkeeper. Worked hard. Also a good game after a stretch of poor ones. 6.5
Isma, finally showed his old self. Great assist to Rafa and very dynamic in other parts of the game, with minimum errors. 7
Musah, what a sitter he missed in first half by not taking the shot and passing to no one on another good set up by Rafa! Then he hit the post in a good effort. Improved in second half but that sitter doesn’t allow us to grant him any more than a passing score. Actually, that showed such low footballing IQ that I will actually grant him a score a bit lower than a pass. 5.75
Morata, can we now say flop as a striker? Missed wildly a good set up by Rafa by shooting wide and directly at a defender. Had a lame weak shot later. Worked hard as usual but didn’t do anything else. He needs to be repurposed as a midfielder as a back up to relieve Fofana and Reijnders because a striker he is not and at this point shouldn’t even be starting. 5
Rafa, MOTM, 7.5. A great goal, and not one, not two, but 3 crosses to companions that could and should have been assists if they had converted them, especially the one to Musah and the one to Theo (arguably even the one to Morata). Then in addition to a couple of decent shots from long distance that were misses but not enormously so, he actually helped significantly the defense in second half. One of his best games and he again won 3 points for us.
Abraham, I thought he was decent especially compared to Morata. Nothing special but at least he tried to score in 30 minutes, more than in Morata’s 60 minutes, and actually also helped the defense towards game end. Gets a pass, 6. Likely should be the starter over Morata from now on. He misses a lot too but at least he is present inside the box, unlike Morata. We do need a good striker but with little more than a week left in the market, it seems like we won’t get one.
Terraciano, entered well, no mistakes. 6
Pulisic, great that he is back. Didn’t have a lot of time to do anything but was decent, especially coming back from injury. 6
Mister Fonseca, I’m a bit concerned by the defensive fragility shown today against one of the worst Champions League teams, and why did he start Emerson??? We could have actually lost this game if not for some great saves by Mike. His subs were all decent and he made them at the right times. A positive display but one hopes that he will correct defensive positioning so, no more than a pass. No lower than a pass because it’s not his fault that Musah and Theo missed sitters which would have killed the game if converted. 6
No team in the CL is a walkover. Girona is still quality despite their low status.
No question there and they also only lost 0-1 against Liverpool recently.
Fonseca is no longer your coach my friend.
My coach? You have me mixed up with someone else. I always hated Fonseca and said so multiple times, even before he was hired.
Oops, sorry. Now I see. I mistyped Fonseca instead of Conceição. My bad.
Well you can’t blame Fonseca anymore. I’m assuming you meant the new guy who just screams all the time and tells the team to just kick the ball forward back to the other team rather than try to pass out of the back.
Nice excuses for Calabria tho. Keep em coming.
I’m convinced Calabria stole your wife, there’s no other reason you hate on him and defend Emerson. Other than, of course, just blatant racism. You conveniently have nothing positive to say about any Italian we’ve had the past 3 years…
I did forget to mention that Calabria almost gave away a goal at the end, and was rescued by Pavlovic.
But yes, he’s been better than Emerson. He did make that mistake but Emerson usually makes 4 or 5 and actually does concede numerous goals.
I feel like you are moving the goalposts with your ratings. Musah was strong today and arguably better than Tiji. Musah was winning battles all over the pitch.
How come Calabria doesn’t get a shout for that low IQ yellow card he took? He had a solid game but you went out of your way to doc Musah for passing instead of shooting why not give Calabria some shade for getting himself suspended for the next match?
Fair enough. I didn’t notice that by collecting a yellow, Calabria is out for Zagreb, that is bad indeed. I guess, with my having forgotten the error he made at the very end, rescued by Pavlovic, does justify dropping my score for him to 5.5.
Also the time he chested the ball to the other team just outside the box. But I guess all those great passes and crosses he made make up for that… Oh wait.
Why do you care so much about Calabria being worse than Emerson? They both stink. Calabrian at least played a decent game today.
You need to seek therapy. Seriously little guy, you have a problem. Get help
Yeah I’ve been quick to shade Calabria this year and last (feel like he’s earned the criticism he gets) but I’m always going to back him like I back everyone at Milan. That said he played more or less solid. If 5 is a pass id rate him at 5.5 too as overall it was a net positive. I’d rate Musah at a 6 as he made up for his blunder with a productive moments throughout the game and thought his work rate really helped in this combative game.
Personally I think Musah has grown a lot mentally as he seems to have mental mistakes less frequently than last year. He’s still afraid to shoot but even that is coming along. I’m sure Ted will come after me for this but he reminds me of Tonali in some ways. Young and raw but I see talent and so far steady growth. He brings the hustle which this team needs.
Musah was doing well… What’s with that score? The scoreline was not reflective of how good we were playing…
Hernandez is the only weak point.
Jeez at this rate we need a LB and RB!
The sitter that Musah missed in first half (by not taking the shot) was absurd. Rafa set him up with no defenders around him, alone in front of the huge goal, 1 v 1 against the goalkeeper, from a closer range than a PK… and instead of OBVIOUSLY taking the shot, he decides to… cross to no one. That was HORRIBLE and proof of low footballing IQ. That alone made me lower his score to slightly below a passing score, even though he did improve in second half and worked hard. But you just CAN’T do that!!! Take the damn shot when you are 3 meters from the HUGE goal in front of the goalkeeper and no defender is challenging you.
-Good result and mostly good performances. It’s never nice when players get injured but I’m glad Calabria got a chance and did well. He is more than solid but physical issues have been hampering him. The same goes for Bennacer. I still think he is our best midfielder if fit. It was a good night for Pavlovic as well. For fourth choice, he is good enough and seems to have the potential and attitude to improve.
-As usual, for a big result we need big moments from star players and Leao and Mike delivered tonight.
-We all acknowledge that Reijnders and Fofana are overworked and have been struggling lately. Can we also acknowledge that Theo has played non-stop for club and country for five seasons? I know he’s having a bad season but the quality is still there as seen against Inter. They just need a breather.
-We have good players but not a good/balanced squad. Lose one or two players in midfield or attack and the team collapses.
Hopefully i didn’t watched the match but in comment have it at HD quality too.
As i see it mostly we need trying Jovic , Musah and Morata as CFs in starting team.
Behind Leao – Reijnders and Chuckuweze.
Pavlovic- Tomori – Kyle – Royal
Isn’t it?
Theo has to be one of the laziest players I’ve ever seen. Fofana worked that ball perfectly and he just casually messed up that perfect ball. Smh. And then he lets the left footed player get the ball on his left foot to score that goal. Smh
Also, bennacer holds the ball better than any player we have on this team. We would be crazy to sell him.
Can someone tell me what Conceição tactics is ? We literally play for counter attacks only.
Possession: Milan 44%. Girona 56% Juve 68% Milan 32%.
What exactly is his tactics pls???
Yes, Conceicao has no tactics. We got of rid oa guy who was trying to bring some tactics to this team. Trying to teach them to pass the ball out of the back rather than just kicking it away. Tried to bring some discipline to spoiled, lazy players like Theo.
We got rid of that guy for this.
I wouldn’t put down Conceição so easily. He got a poorly constructed team. He walked into a sinking ship, a mess of a bunch of players who weren’t even playing as a team. He can’t accomplish a miracle in a few weeks while not having had input for a mercato, not having a pre-season, not working with his players for months and years like almost all the other coaches. Is it his fault when Musah misses a sitter, Theo misses two, and Morata misses one, and Theo can’t defend. Conceição needs help from the mercato but you know who stupid and incompetent our managers are.
That guy is a waste of oxygen. He was a Fonseca fanboy who got mad he wasn’t good enough, also why he thinks Emerson is our best defender🤡
You are genuinely the most brain devoid person on this site. How long are you gonna cry that Fonseca got fired for failing? The new manager has barely been here 4 weeks and is already doing better. You just desperately wanted your precious Fonseca and emerson to do good, and they didn’t, and now you’re butthurt that everyone noticed how trash they are. Get a grip
You do realize that Conceição is a much greater coach than Fonseca right ?
You do realize that both are portugese and the latter didn’t even come close to the achievments of the former right ?
Did you see that Conceição has won 12 titles to Fonseca 9 titles despite starting his career 3 years later ?
You do realize that outside of Ukraine, Fonseca never managed to stay more than 2 seasons in any club, while Conceição made Porto punch above its weight for several seasons ? With porto he reached round of 16 in 2017/18, quarter finals in 2018/19, quarter finals in 2020/21 beating juventus, round of 16 in 2022/23 and in 2023/24 losing on tabs to Arsenal ? Fonseca played the round of 16 only once with Chakhtar Donetsk.
What did you see in Fonseca before he started coaching us ? Or even when he coached us ?
You don’t have to agree with Conceição tactics or even like them, but to suggest that Fonseca is close to the caliber of coaching that Conceição is is nonsensical.
Yea well those tactics got us squarely in 8th after a whole half of a season….when were u going to wake up? That’s why he was let go. It wasn’t good enough according to people in football “all their lives”. We won a trophy with Conceicao. Get over it.
Because our players are suited for counter attacks? For example Real Madrid has won many big matches mostly with counter attacking tactics over the last few years, among many other teams.
This Milan will never be able to play ticki taka or anything similar. Forget it.
For me we played to our strength. Musah is good but lacks end product, we need a key striker and a midfielder. If you compare you might say girona is weak, but you don’t expect us that lack consistency to just breeze pass them. Look at juve draw against people we beat good.
Musah is a headless chicken, cant fault his workrate but there’s no end product. Glad to see Bennacer back playing well, he is like a new signing and glad Pavlovic is getting a chance, not a coincidence we kept a clean sheet when emerson is not playing!
Finally, as said before our CF are not performing. Morata for 6.5m salary and being a senior member isnt bringing leadership and is not leading by example. At least play Jovic who can put chances away! We cant push for top 4 without a proper proven CF. Look at Napoli (Lukaku), Inter (Laturo, Thuram, Taremi), Atalanta (Ruteigi, CDK) etc. We cant compete with Morata and Tammy!
Agreed. Jovic has at least shown he can be a good poacher for us, especially with 2 up top. Have no idea why we won’t try him when both other Strikers are missing eveything. But we’re out here offering 15mil for Gimenez…and Pav definitely should be playing over Tomori
I’d be quite happy to see Okafor play striker
Okafor has had poor performances as a striker. Okafor is a really limited player. He often only does well when he comes in late and the defenders are tired. Jovic might do better but he isn’t in the Champions League list.
I don’t see him doing worse than Morata. Okafor has mostly done well. Sometimes or at some point playing close to Leaos performances.. whether that was Leao playing poorly I don’t know.
Okafor can’t collect a pass while under pressure let alone play with his back towards goal. I think he is more a kick and run type player which doesn’t really help in most situations these days
Nice to see Leão score the winner and set up many more wasted chances. Mike was strong as usual and Calabria helped keep a clean sheet.
Strahinja Pavlovic has GRINTA… Exactly what we need in this team and especially in defense
Why dont use theo as a winger not a left back, theo good at attacking but bad at def
Theo is reminding me of Rebics last season with Milan – clumsy, slow ,confused, no positioning, no clean contact with his shots.. Como goal was a fluke.
Tho im rather sad for him at this point. Man just forgets how to play football.
Rafa has achieved some important marks with his goal today. He is now the only active player who is both a top 20 Milan scorer of all time and a top 10 Milan assister of all time. He is also one of the only four Milan players in history with 50+ goals and 50+ assists, together with Kaka, Gianni Rivera and Seedorf.
And some idiots here wanted him to be sold, LOL
Leao balled out tonight. Great game. Shoulda had at least one assist also. Morata isn’t that good. His first touch sucks and he isn’t a good finisher. Work rate is basically all he has and possibly being a leader but I’d go with Tammy(who I don’t like) for now. I can only laugh about Emerson. Even if he isn’t hurt Calabria earned the starting spot for now.
I know Mike made two important tough saves but man balls seem to get under him pretty easily. I’m I just being nervous or do you all think there’s something to worry about?
So pleased to see Bennacer play so well. Was getting concerned that he couldn’t get back to his previous level.
Musah still impressed me today. Despite the missed chances. He got forward a lot and participated in attack.
Instead of just being a defensive RW.
Perhaps he was allowed to go forward more once Calabria came on and he no longer had to cover Emerson at RB….
And he again showed his flexibility moving into midfield later.
Was pleased to see Calabria get a run and he was decent. Except for getting a yellow card for abuse and now is suspended for next week. Talk about shooting both yourself and the team in the foot.
Assuming Emerson is injured. So now either Musah goes to RB (if Pulisic is fit to start) or Terracciano or Bartesaghi will have to play RB in a must win game.
Or Tomori?
that could work.
Re
“Emerson Royal (N/A): It was written in the stars. Less than two minutes into the game, he went down with an injury after a collision and had to be subbed off. It remains to be seen how this injury, if it actually is an injury, will affect his rumoured exit.”
Well of course he is injured. He clearly pulled a upper leg muscle in the footage. And why else did he come off after 2 mins….
Hooray, Emerson Royale is injured
Good news for Milan
First, one should never be happy with the injury of a player regardless of how bad he is.
Second, him being injured will jeopardize his departure from the club. No club would purchase a player who just got injured.
Waaaaaw, people over the age of 40 and 50 are fighting over f**ing Calabria and Emerson lol Everyone knows they both suck.
Get a fu***ing life for f** sake
😂
Please elaborate why you are in a position to point fingers at anyone around here as you generally post a lot of bs on this website and yes Calabria is a better defender than Royal and its clear for all with eyes to see. Is he better than Walker absolutely no as the Englishman is a great upgrade over all of our right backs.
I dont think Theo wants to play for Milan anymore. If in champions league you play like that. 4.5 is to much for what he did
PLEASE Understand that EMERSON is not playing ahead of calabria because he is better, EMERSON is playing because CALABRIA contract is out at the end of the season, most clubs operate that way.
My neighbour’s child is turning 6 months old today! FYI
Pavlović did great. He works well with Gabbia and I think that 2 of them can develop a very good defensive line.
I agree and if I remember correctly then its the second time they have been fielded next to each other and this is the second time that there wasn’t scored against us. The Serb will need to become a bit more tactical astute but shows great promise in my view.
Leao looks like a different player under Conceicao. Very spirited and eager, more active behind the ball, the goals are now the icing of the cake, not just mere glimpses of his capabilities like so many times before. Let’s see if that becomes an actual trend.
Sadly, there’s still no such impact on Theo. The rumors about him wanting to leave are starting to ring true. Anyone can make a mistake, but his body language screams apathy. It makes sense that you would then make silly mistakes and miss sitters. His mind is elsewhere.
Cuddos to Pavlovic for a great second half. He was very shaky in the first 45, though. That third Mike save came after their player beat him up easily. Then again, it’s understandable, given the lack of game time in the last months. Sending him off after 6 months and with Thiaw injured would be just another episode of the comedy-horror show this management has become infamous for.
As a huge Matteo fan, he could’ve done better in the Van de Beek chance, but made up for it in the second half, blocking a dangerous shot.
As always Calabria did better than the Brazilian waste of space. He wasn’t even physically at 100%, yet he got forward numerous time to open space for Musah which contributed to some of our chances. The stuipd yellow card probably should lower his rating, though.
Some good stuff from our tired midfield which was a positive sign that the players had realize the importance of the game. Fofana was everywhere and Isma had his best game after the injury. Pivotal in our winning goal not just by passing it to Leao, but, even more importantly, by dispossessing a player who could’ve started a quick counter for Girona. Even TJ had a better performance than the last few.
Musah missed our best chance with an inexplicable passing decision and made a mistake that could’ve been costly before Isma did his magic and turned it all around. Still, cuddos for always being there, he had such a “non-Musah” performance in Turin, barely touching the ball. He helped out Calabria in the second half since they were dangerous on the flanks.
Mike – three great saves that saved our behinds. Who said he is not a world class goalkeeper?
Morata – the usual stuff from him, hard worker with no end product and some weird passing decisions. I don’t agree that Tammy should start over him, though. He is horrible. We need a new striker or else we’ll continue relying on Puli and Rafa for 5 more months. Simple.
Conceicao instructed the team to defend deeper after the players got tired and after their disallowed goal (we were lucky) we didn’t really concede anything for half an hour. Tactically things are still chaotic as he seems to prioritize lifting the team spirit and eagerness first and foremost. The Emerson decision was a mistake, but he managed the game competently and make the right subs at the right time with very limited resource on his hands tonight.
A tale of 2 halves. A half where we played well albeit some individual mistakes that lead to Girona having good scoring opportunities and where we also missed some of our own and the other where we were lucky not to lose the win.
I did like the pressing pattern of the first half, albeit some individuals mistakes but in the second half we seemed completely out of gas. I don’t know if this is due to our players spending more energy than they should or them being so unfit, but this is worrying. And all of this happened against the mighty Girona mind you.
Maignan: perfect tonight, saved our win.
Emerson: It’s almost like we doomed to have him till the end of the season. For once we almost had good news and now he is injured… Whoever decided he should start tonight (Conceição or the management) should be held accountable. You don’t start a player who is almost on his way out.
Calabria: did actually ok overall, but at times Girona attacked too easily on our right side for my liking.
Pavlovic: Not great postitionally, but he did have a lot of good tackling and interceptions that kept us well.
Gabbia: Not his best copy. Van De Beek dribbled him to easily and against a better attacking side we could have been in more trouble.
Theo: Since we might revamp the squad in the next 10 days, maybe we should consider purchasing a left back, or start Bartesaghi or Jimenez there,…
Bennacer: was a bit sluggish in the beginning but then improved a lot and great work on the goal. So good improvment, until his next injury…
Fofana: His best copy under Conceição, did well on the press.
Reijnders: Also his best copy under Conceição, but far from what we want.
Musah: Clearly not a winger, he can’t shoot, and his passing is sus, but actually had a good game overall, his running and physicality disturbed Girona quite a lot.
Leao: Great game last night, great goal and should have had an assist or 2. Let’s hope we won’t have to wait next month for his next good game…
Morata: catastrophic… can’t score and his passing and touches actually disturbed our counters…
Abraham: didn’t provide a lot when he came in.
Pulisic: subbing in a player who was just injured twice in a won game where even a loss wouldn’t hurt us that much was too risky for my liking.
Musah is a wild card I’ve never seen before in football. James Milner comes to mind but he was on a whole different level. Highly intelligent player. I see Musah best playing wide as RM in 442/3421/343
Calabria was solid, Benny’s improving and hopefully he can stay fit. We need his energy and intelligence.
I like the fast transition, no BS football they try to play. it’s best suited for the ball carriers and runners we have.
But shortcomings are evident and we desperately need both quality deputies for our starters (Fofana, Reijnders, Theo) as well as quality first team additions.
This team is poorly constructed and it seems there will be no proper intervention in January. Don’t expect miracles from Sergio with this set of players and exhausted midfield.
Benny played his best game in 2-3 years which can only mean one thing: he’s about to get injured again.
Wow. Had to skip half of the comments as arguing over “which is better, Calabria or a useless trashcan”? I’ve got better things to do than read those.
Leao delivered. Good. Conceicao seems to be bringing out the best of him. Now keep it up and hope Pulisic stays fit.
Emerson is probably faking the injury as his plan to ruin the club. He’s not going anywhere which means we don’t have the money for Gimenez which means we’re stuck with Morata & Abraham. Great. Don’t expect goals from the CFs then. It’s all on Leao & Pulisic then. And maybe Reijnders too if he ever gets a break.
Oh btw, Leao was MOTM but Pavlovic and CALABRIA (YES, YOU READ IT RIGHT!) deserve the praise too. They were excellent.
Maybe I’m on an island here but I found Musah to be very good and key to our win today. He was everywhere tackling and helping the offense. Yes he could have shot when he passed and vice versa but he isn’t really an attacker.. hopefully with time he can figure out his decision making skills. But for me, he was quite dangerous this game..I really wish he can put in these sort of performances more often.
Also this looked like Scudetto Bennacer. This is exactly what our midfield has been missing….a press resistant highly skilled player. But unfortunately…his injuries though. And Theo needs to get his head out of whatever space it’s in. Yes he hit the crossbar and we’d be talking differently if it had gone in but his whole demeanor isn’t up to scratch
Also wow, did we really need to go into such war about Calabria and Emerson. It’s very simple, 96% think Calabria is better, 5% thinks otherwise. Let’s leave it at that. we know who falls where
People are just fed up with watching K go off on everybpost about how he hates the new coach, wishes we kept Fonseca, and defending every performance Emerson gives even when it’s a 2/10. He’s a Fonseca Superman who can’t accept that we brought in a better manager
Lol I got my percentages off there should have said 95 but I’m under the weather a bit. Yea I dunno about that dude. Worst hypocrite on the site by far. So easy to beat him with his own arguments. First he used to say fans think they know more than the professionals, now he’s all over this site talking about how better Fonseca is lol 😂 didn’t the professionals fire Fonseca and hired someone who they think better? 🤣🤣🤣. Where did that argument disappear?? Hits you with conjecture but heaven forbid we do the same.. the irony and hypocrisy.
Then hits you with some feeble stats, complain that you don’t have substantive arguments and when you do hit him with a solid thesis, cherry picks and wriggles his way out. Then calls people names and throws insults which just diminishes any sort of respect. All because he has in reality zero to offer. It’s not way to have a proper discourse. There are many ppl on this site who I’ve disagreed with and still have viable discussions..but it’s not with ppl like K and a few others..so I don’t waste my time. Not worth it.
It’s really all predicated on Redbird, Mr Thank Redbird Thank Gerry lol 😂. Whatever they do can’t have any blame attached to them so it all has to line up some way or the other.