AC Milan ended their US pre-season tour with a penalty shoot-out win as the game against Barcelona ended 2-2 after 90 minutes. In front of his home crowd, Christian Pulisic got a 1+1 and below are the player 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
Torriani (7): The youngster made three great saves in the first half, two on Raphinha and one on Lewandowski from close range. He had some good interventions in the second half as well but could have been a lot better with his feet, struggling at times. On the other hand, he saved two penalties in the shoot-out (including the decisive one) and deserves praise for that.
Saelemaekers (5.5): Although that was perhaps expected, he wasn’t good enough in the defensive phase and struggled above all with the positioning. He was too high up the pitch several times and he had a poor clearance just before Barca’s first goal. In the second half, he played on the left flank of the attack but didn’t have much success there either.
Tomori (5.5): The Englishman struggled with his positioning throughout the game, even if he had a couple of good clearances. One could argue that the defence was left too exposed (same old story), but the feeling is that both centre-backs could have done better.
Thiaw (5.5): He wasn’t aligned with his teammates on the second goal, resulting in the Barcelona man being onside. Just like his colleague, he seemed to struggle with the runs in behind and his defending on the first goal also left a lot to be desired.
Terracciano (5): It wasn’t a good US tour for him, unfortunately, failing to show anything of value in both phases of the game. Tonight, he struggled defensively and when he got forward, the combination with his teammates was abysmal.,
Musah (6): The American had some good runs forward, including one just before the first goal, and he was also okay in his defensive movements. It will be interesting to see him when he has had some more time with Fonseca.
Loftus-Cheek (6.5): Physically imposing and good with the ball at his feet. He drifted out of the game every now and then, but it was still a good display from the Englishman who showcased his versatility.
Chukwueze (6): He was involved in the first goal with a nice lay-off to Pulisic, very similar to Leao’s pass for ditto, and he was lively overall. However, he missed quite a good chance in the first half after doing well to get past his man.
Pulisic (7 – MOTM): Captain America bagged a good assist for the first goal, although he was given way too much time by the Barca defence, and the finish on his own goal was brilliant. Okay in open play aside from this, so a promising display in the No.10 role.
Leao (6): He was dominant against his opponent on the left flank and had several great runs forward, but the end product was lacking. Aside from the assist for Pulisic, he could have done a lot better with his passing.
Jovic (6.5): It was great work for him to wrestle past his opponent on the first goal, slotting it home from close range, but he could have been more involved in open play in general.
Substitutes
Calabria (6): Defended very well during his time on the pitch and you could clearly see the difference compared to the first half. Converted his penalty very nicely as well.
Bennacer (6): He added some defensive balance to Milan’s game and had some nice tackles out there. His penalty was saved in the shoot-out, it should be noted.
Adli (6): The Frenchman did just about enough to get a pass here, showcasing some skill as well as moving up and down the pitch with willingness. He also converted his penalty.
Okafor (6): Always tried to make something happen and had a few good runs up the pitch, though with little support from his teammates. He slotted home his penalty with ease.
Jimenez (N/A): We didn’t see enough of him to give a rating.
Gabbia (N/A): We didn’t see enough of him to give a rating.
Cuenca (N/A): We didn’t see enough of him to give a rating.
Kalulu (N/A): We didn’t see enough of him to give a rating. He absolutely skied his penalty.
Zeroli (N/A): We didn’t see enough of him to give a rating. He scored his penalty in great fashion.
So we did well in the pre-season US tour. Some people thought we’d be humiliated; we ended up winning two games, drawing the third one and winning the PKs tiebreaker. Not bad!
We got three tour stars in Chuk, Liberali and Torriani. We settled (hopefully Fonseca agrees) the question of who is a better deputy for Theo, Terraciano or Jimenez? I think the answer is clearly Jimenez who shares some of Theo’s abilities such as explosive help for the offense.
Hopefully Fonseca will conclude that Chuk as RW starter and Puli as CAM is the best use of their abilities.
Hopefully we ship out Saelemaekers rather than Okafor. This may prove to be tricky as Fonseca seems to like Alexis; I’d actually say, he overrates Alexis. A couple of decent showings in two friendlies won’t make Alexis pierce his own ceiling. Today he was close to being the worst player on the field.
And most importantly, hopefully this game shows to the coach and the managers how badly we need a DM. We were under pressure for most of the game because our midfield couldn’t contain their breakthroughs.
Saelemaekers was playing out of position in the first half and was very poor. Moved forward for the second half he was one of the better players for Milan along with Calabria.
Neither Terracciano nor Jimenez are good enough. Why are they looking for just a right-back, the left side is a disaster waiting to happen if Theo goes down.
The whole LB thing is a mess because we have 4 players there for 1 position with Bartesaghi.
I’d put Terracciano out for loan to a Serie A club as he should get games at that level and might improve. We then need to back one of Bartesaghi or Jimenez and sell the other.
We really don’t, we have currently 2 left backs including Bertesaghi, neither Terracciano, Florenzi or Calabria should play left back, they are all struggling horrible being inverted, and are all very right footed. They can’t even do simple passes with left. Sales hopefully never plays right back again too.
There are many examples of right footed players playing LB and actually one thing Terracciano and Jimenez have going for them is they can cover both sides.
I’d be interested to see if Kalulu tried at LB as he could then potentially cover the entire defence and we could get away with 5 players for 4 positions with some youth and experience covering for injuries.
Salad should never play again for Milan period
Neither should Terracciano or Calabria because they suck and any serious top club would sell them immediately
I’d try Jimenez at RB to see how he does
He was fantastic at LB vs Real Madrid, and with Leao he would do even better but that fodder Salad kept sabotaging him vs Barca
It’s just a shame that Theo is a starter at LB so he can’t play there so I wonder if Jimenez could play on the right
Salad was terrible in 2nd half
Wouldn’t pass the ball to Jimenez
Just another fodder who sabotages better players to ensure his place
Calabria is never ever good
Jimenez is fantastic
He is a mini-Theo, too bad Real has a buy-back option for him
Salad was actively sabotaging him by refusing to pass him the ball
Fodder fans actually think Salad is good lmao
I didn’t really care how we’d go with pre-season because it’s meaningless.
Most of the players who played will never see much first team football again. Same as every other preseason.
Look at Torriani. Sportiello gets injured, he puts in some great performances and his reward is that Milan will now signed a new keeper because he can’t even be trusted to be the third choice keeper.
Look at Liberali . Break out star rewarded with Milan trying to sign Samardžić.
Look at Maldini and Colombo. Both gone.
The starting 11 will be very different come the start of the season so there really is nothing we can tell except maybe that Fonseca, being a foreign coach, might actually play Pulisic as AM leaving space for Chuk.
It remains to be seen whether he’ll stick to that in competitive games or after a heavy defeat.
I hope he does because a front four of Chuk, Pulisic, Leao and Morata is a very exciting prospect.
Okay, Mr Crystal Ball.
It’s called making predictions based on the same mistakes being repeated for at least 15 years.
except it’s not the same thing at all. Whine on.
“Look at Liberali . Break out star”
Guy plays decent friendly or two and suddenly is a “break out star”. 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Also, that quote is from the same guy who just literally claimed “I didn’t really care how we’d go with pre-season because it’s meaningless.” just a few rows above. 😀
Do you really struggle with basic comprehension?
“Do you really struggle with basic comprehension?”
Nope.
How is it any different?
Signing multiple players for the same positions or positions already covered?
Check.
Signing players to crowd out youth products?
Check.
Not focusing on the key areas of weakness – this time DM?
Check.
What’s different this time?
And who is ‘whining’?
Are we just to nod along as we repeat the same mistakes over and over again?
What ‘reality check’?
Why do I cere whether or not other clubs have heard of one of our players?
I’m not interested in celebrity, I’m interested in supporting my football team.
You seem unable to follow a basic thread of thought, and constantly misunderstand (or misrepresent) what I’m saying.
“What ‘reality check’?
Why do I cere whether or not other clubs have heard of one of our players?
I’m not interested in celebrity, I’m interested in supporting my football team.”
All this coming from the kid who bashes others for “struggling with basic comprehension”. Absolutely priceless. 😀 😀 😀
”
How is it any different?
Signing multiple players for the same positions or positions already covered?
Check.
Signing players to crowd out youth products?
Check.
Not focusing on the key areas of weakness – this time DM?
Check.
What’s different this time?
And who is ‘whining’?
Are we just to nod along as we repeat the same mistakes over and over again?
”
About the “basic comprehension” -part… How the f*** does your comment relate to ANYTHING I’ve said? 😀 😀 😀
Well what you call him?
Why are you taking the mick out of our youth players?
Why are you taking the mick out of our players full stop?
“Why are you taking the mick out of our youth players?”
LOL. I’m not. It was just a reality check. I’d say a certain Barca youngster whose lastname is Yamal is a “break out star”. Liberali is known to only Milan-fans and cannot be considered as a star yet.
Go ahead, ask anyone who follows football but not Milan who Liberali is. Then ask if he has heard of Lamine Yamal. The odds are that only one of them rings the bell and it sure ain’t Liberali.
Torriani will be a waste if he become 3rd GK in first team. Better he played regularly in Futuro than a bench warmer. But Bonera must assure he will be the first choice in Futuro.
Futuro is increasingly becoming – another excuse not to give youth players a chance.
I think Torriani could handle being a backup for Mike for 2-3 months, then he should go back to Milan Futuro for playing time. He has a bright future. But yes, teams usually have two backups for the goalkeeper. Currently we have just Torriani (the others are not ready and not as good) so it is prudent to get another goalkeeper loaned to us.
The coach did say in another interview that he is thinking of bringing Liberali to the first team from time to time. Regarding what the other guy said, I don’t care if people know Yamal better than Liberali. Let them be surprised. Liberali is very good. He played against grown men with great personality and inteligence. Of all they young players, I think he was the one who showed the most readiness to be with the first team, better than Camarda who needs more improvement and should stay with Milan Futuro for now.
Maldini is gone, good riddance. He is mediocre. You are probably in love with him because of his last name. Nobody would care for Daniel being gone if his last name were Rossi or something. Daniel Maldini only had space at Milan because of his last name, period. He is NOT a player who is good enough for Milan’s first team. Selling him was the right decision; enough with the nepotism.
Colombo is gone but with a buy back clause. If he does explode, we will get him back. Smart move.
Now, what is REALLY not a smart move, is not having moved for a proper DM early in the window. This game showed clearly what we all know: that our midfield can’t contain aggressive opponents, leaving the defense in trouble.
Our offense with Puli as CAM, and Chuk, Morata and Leão will be a nightmare for opponents. It’s the DM and RB positions that need help.
We don’t have a high level backup for Theo but I’m not as worried because Theo is not injury-prone.
My fears that I expressed about Fonseca’s system so far was seen in the second half. You put us up against a team who really know how to press , they’ll put us in all kinds of trouble. Maybe it’s just the learning curve, but the coaches need to provide other ways out ; including simple direct moving of the ball forward. I feel like the players are always trying to work out some Calculus equations anytime they get the ball.
And another thing, I know it’s Fonseca’s style, but the CF is waaayyy too deep. I don’t think Morata is a good fit for that.
Finally, I think 4-3-3 could offer a better chance at assimilating quicker and playing this new system better.
This match was a very good work out for the players, and it also is a means for the Coach to observe and learn how to play teams that are technically better, the players performed well, but they are still a work in progress, it pays to have a coach with vision, all the players will eventually come good, what we need right now is one or two additions, and we are ok, this keeper is amazing…. honestly what the cub needs to do is loan him out to a serie’b or serie’c team, as Rayverre and the new young goal keeper from Roma will play for the Futuro, that way he gets to play every week without hinderance, and the GK”s left in the Futuro will also get to play, things are looking really good..
Quite okay tour in US.
Defensive setup is till the same, no improvement so far. Perhaps it’s time to bench Thiaw-Tomori… It looks like they hit the ceiling… There won’t be any improvement.
Tomori’s mind is somewhere else, thinking how to be a leader, meanwhile his performance doesn’t even deserve to be a starter.
It’s good that we signed Pavlovic even though I have never seen his game lol. Maybe he and Gabbia could be a decent duo…
I would not blame Saladmaker, he is being used as an experiment rabbit. Yesterday, LW, today RB
This goalkeeper boy is slick though 🔥🔥
Very good first half, poor 2nd.
Hopefully, after seeing Saelemaekers at RB, people will stop with the nonsense that he can play there. He was 10-15 meters behind every play on defense. Terracciano is a cone at fullback.
The midfield looked much better in the 1st half when RLC and Musah played vs. Gundogan and Christensen than it did in the 2nd half when Bennacer entered, and Barca took GundoganChristensen for some youth players.
Torriani made some saves in the 1st half, but he was very shaky in the 2nd. Kid does look promising though.
The front 4 looked good together, even though they should have scored couple more goals.
More positive things on display from the team today. Can’t wait to see how much better they’ll be when Theo, Reijnders, and Morata take their places in the starting lineup.
I’m with you there.
We did very good this summer. It’s like Fonseca has been here a while longer than he has. Though we did drop off a bit the 2nd half, we leave this preseason with our heads up high.
We may have a treasure on our hands with Torriani. He displays maturity far beyond his years.
Pavlovic will be no doubt a major upgrade to our defense. Thiaw needs to depart to the Premier League.
And take Tomori with him.
Salute to the goalkeeper,he is exceptional.
We need to look into other team play when we face a team like this.when with the ball,we can’t always think of going backwards almost to the goalkeeper,a strategy needs to be found please.
Furza Milan
Our build up play is interesting. It’s very unpredictable unless I’m not seeing the pattern yet. But some of the play out of defence is risky, the lines between passes are a bit too long for my liking but hey it works for some reason.
Individually, Musah and RLC are trash. I have no clue where Musah will play in the team. Not too enough for pivot and doesn’t seem we’ll use 433 mezzalas alot. RLC gives us presence as a pivot but hes another one in not sure how he’s going to line up in the team. Join the list of expensive backups I guess. How they got a higher rating than the backline I have no clue or got rating higher than other players.
Torriani is brilliant. My fav youth player.
As an aside, on Barca’s second goal specifically, Tomori was primarily responsible but it also highlighted our lack of DM. A DM in front of defence means he didn’t have to do what he did. And the same problem from last season is still there as the rater pointed out.
If this is our last preseason game and we don’t know who will start and how we’ll line up I’d say we have alot of work to do. Our midfield is soooo trash. Sold a good midfielder last year to buy a bunch of them and yet they all collectively suck so badly.
As another aside, the players kit seem to not dry off quickly. Those kits were sticking to their bodies with sweat. Those guys were drenched but it could be the conditions though I play in those conditions. I have a feeling it’s material and maker. The Adidas kits back in the day had better tech imo eg climacool and were stronger. They dried fast whereas these days I feel like I’m always drenched in sweat with these kits.
Really? You don’t know how Musah and RLC scored better than Thaiw and Tomori? Okay, not sure I saw the same game as you did then.
Torriani is unsure and a turnover machine. He needs a lot more time playing at a lower level. Sure he made a few saves, saves that every keeper would expect to make, but he can’t pass the ball when pressured to save his life.
Bro what did Musah do? I can see an argument for RLC but Musah was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Dude can’t play pivot to save his life. He had one clearance I can recall and apart from that over carried the ball as usual. Granted if he can actually combat that one single part of his game he’d actually be good. But man he just has no sense of basic tactical awareness
I TOTALLY agree with WCSG . As far as IKWYDLS goes he watched the WRONG fuucckkkkkkking game !!
I don’t think pre-season tells us anything really except for all of the talent that we’ll waste over the next few years!
In terms of tactics, sure it looks exciting particularly with Pulisic moving to AM.
I really like RLC so I don’t really care where he plays. He does things with purpose and scores goals (which might be a bit too ‘real’ for some people on here which is why he’s not popular!).
Musah is like the anti-RLC – all run and no purpose (but people love talking about his mythical ‘ceiling’).
We obviously need a proper DM. It’s so obvious that my 3 year old can probably see it! I don’t why they won’t sign a proper DM but, as you may have noticed, I don’t get most things when it comes to the wonders of the transfer market.
But on the pitch…..I like what I am seeing with Fonseca.
There’s no better way to analyse RLC and Musah on the pitch. With time I believe RLC will become a force of nature while I don’t even understand how AC Milan ended up with such a confused player in Musah and yet sentimentally some fans believe he has some awkward ceiling but what most fan don’t understand is that Musah is an unstable individual who prioritize running with ball to reading of the game and there’s nothing wrong with this skillset but it’s meant for American Football and until he prioritised reading the game as a Footballer, the forecasted ceiling some predicted for him will be a dazzling mirage.
What a joke. He’s never even played football in America aside from the national team.
American Football, not football / soccer
Big difference there.
Since we have a new coach preseason tells us hints of what we could see for the neww season. I actually dont favour Puli as a CAM..I think he’s wasted there. Chuk to me is and will be the odd one out.
I’m with you. Have no clue what ppl see in Musah and how they can make any remote comparison to Kante. Onky thing he might in common is height lol 😂. I e good thing though he has is time as he’s young.
Overall yes gameplay is different which is nice but I have a feeling it will be as last year, take care of the small teams whipped by big teams. Hope I’m wrong though
Loftus- Musah- Adli- pobega and co have no business as a DM,
you could virtually see Loftus and Musah covering no space at our back line because they are more of attacking midfielders.
Kessie was the last true natural DM we had that made all other midfielders in our system click.
We should just try and go all out for Fofana before the transfer window closes… He is good. Bennacer is also trying
remember Milan is doomed without De Zerbi, the guy who no top club wanted to sign and is now managing a mid table French team
OMG 🤯 ARE YOU STILL LICKING HIS 🏀🏀????
Looks like De Zerbi is living in your lil 🧠 rent free
Why do you come here to argue? Are you lonely?
Nobody mentioned DZ.
This is pre-season so let’s not get carried away. We still need to get our 1st team together, most of the big guns are just returning
Hahaha 🤣😂🤣😂 keep em flowing Boulden. Do t let them stop you 😁🍿
Your popcorn bill must be huge!
Bro this has been a fantastic off season ngl 😂😂😂
You put olympique Marseille and mid table in the same sentence. Says a lot🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
God lord man go seek help, you desperately need it.
At least this coach achievement has been reached, winning against top team Man City, Real Madrid, Barcelona, we also has beaten PSG last season, and Bayern Munich long time ago.
Daddy chill! This is just a friendly match
aw Milan didnt lose the Inter fan is sad
Tomori is the new Christian Zapata
It must have been painful, taking a break from your campaign against the club captain, to give him a 6 rating…..
Tissues. If only we kept De Sciglio! LOLOLOL
Why are you taking the mick out of the club captain?
I was going to mention Calabria too. Man he did very well. Don’t know why the hate. Very good 1v1. Clear upgrade at RB when he came on. Actually knows how to defend. Ppl.can make the argument for captaincy etc don’t really care bout that but he’s a proper RB
Buddy, saying Calabria is an upgrade to Alexis who isn’t a natural RB isn’t saying much 🤣
We need to work more on our game.. the method we chose to play against Barcelona puts a whole lots of pressure on Torriani which could have been avoiding. The back pass was just too much which made it easy for our opponents to dominate the second half. Bennacer was brilliant coming on and wish we can add at least an offensive and creative midfielder before the transfer closes like Samardzic and Fofana as the story have claimed in recent times.
Hope Milan don’t turn Torriani into Plizzari. Plizzari started very well but ended up nowhere. Torriani should be given many starts and should be deputy to MM
Definitely, he’s almost 20 yo, should be ready for first team, at least backup for Maignan
Ah Plizzari.
The loyal Donnarumma…
Like what fonseca is doing so far. However, for the love of god we need a dm. I don’t get what the menagment is waiting for, dm asap. Otherwise our defense we’ll be as bad as the last 2 seasons. How in the world they don’t act on it is beyond me.
If only you are the director or Ceo of this club
Tomori has been really bad lately and honestly 25 million offer and he can leave. What was that for the second goal, he leaves Lewandowski and attacks a player who was already being pressured by another Milan player. I have no clue who our CB pairing should be since they are all average at best. Gabbia is an option but against fast strikers he isn’t my ideal option either
Remind us of Romagnoli?
Excellent pre season from the whole team. This looks very promising indeed.
So Pavlović-Gabbia pair it is. And what’s with the midfield. 60 millions spent and we’re able to show nothing. I’d trade them all back for Tonali in a heartbeat. Bennacer-Tonali pair would at least have some impact and presence there.
Krunic is the biggest loss after Kessie.
Krunic had the highest interceptions last season and only played a few games!
And when he was frozen out our midfield collapsed.
Krunic was the master of backpasses. One of the worst players we have had since the banter era. Mesbah and Constant level.
It’s like you can’t pay attention to all the bad plays he did. And he was astonishingly one dimensional.
Even Kucka was miles better than him.
I bet you’re one of those players who tries to constantly dribble because you won’t pass the ball simple…
Krunic was the last defensive minded midfielder we had on the team and he was a backup in the past, not a starter. Ever wonder why we’re looking for a DM? Because our midfield sucks after losing 1 player and replacing him with 3 and none of them are better than him or Krunic defensively.
U guys talk about backpasses so much but both Adli and Deers do the same.
When Krunic left midseason we conceded at a rate that would have ended up with 39 total goals. Instead we conceded 10 more at 49, the worst since the same banter era you mentioned and one of the worst in the last 20 yrs. And that’s with the new signings Deers, Musah, RLC and co at the helm. But yea go on with the Krunic hate.
Hah, the Krunic fanboys still can’t let go. On his best day he was mediocre. I think he even got benched at Fenerbache . There is no coach not named Pioli who would start that guy. And even Pioli had to come to his sensed in an effort to save his job. Every midfielder we have now with the exception of Pobega is better than Krunic.
Yes K, we don’t need a defensive midfielder. That why we’re shopping for one….ooops wait …
Yes IKWYDLS, Krunic is not and never was the answer.
Ofc he’s not the answer “he was a backup in the past, not a starter”. You guys think I want him to start when in reality I’m showing you we’ve downgraded our defensive midfield department.
If us looking for a DM this summer isn’t proof then I don’t know what is
Yikes
Krunic orphans
It’s a shame, we had midfield sorted and now it’s a mess.
If we play double pivot then RLC, Musah, Pobega should leave, there is no place for them.
Benny, Reijnders, Adli can all play beside a true DM.
Scouts are good at identifying talent, not necessarily building a team (job of the manager).
Moncada should scout and someone above him, probably the manager, should decide who suits. It’s a mess right now with square pegs in round holes
“It’s a shame, we had midfield sorted and now it’s a mess.”
This !!!
When exactly was the midfield sorted? Not since Kessie left. The Tonali Bennacer midfield didn’t work and we would’ve finished 5th in the league that season had Juventus not been penalized. Is that when you think it was sorted? It was better last season and it will be better this season with or without Fofana. But by all means Carey on with the delusional fantasy that Tonali was some great midfielder.
It was sorted when we won the league, no drop off no matter who played. Shame that was allowed to disintegrate.
Yes Tonali is a super young midfielder
Again, that was with Kessie, he’s been long gone now. Maldini let him go for free. How does that have any relevance in 2024?
@K
Again, yes the midfield we had with Kessie, 2 years ago, not that long.
So we need to learn from mistakes and stop selling off players who are settled and good, like Benny.
We need to be adding starting quality players, to improve , not disimprove or stay the same
Wrong Ted. The Tonali- Bennacer pairing didn’t work, which was why he was sold. So strange some people are still pretending Tonali was some great player. I thought we were past that nonsense. Go watch him come off the bench for Newcastle this season, playing 15 minutes a game.
@K “Every midfielder we have now with the exception of Pobega is better than Krunic.” Not defensively, no. And the stats prove it and u know it
Tomori and thiaw should be shown the door to EPL and bring in Matt hummels for free.torriani should be a regular for futoro than a third choice.what ever it takes,Milan should get a DM before league starts
I believe the SAN Siro giants are getting close to taking back that which belongs to us and that is the champions League, and I assure you that it will be very soon. Forza Milan 💘