AC Milan were not at their free-flowing best during the win over Bologna, but they managed to get the job done with a tough 1-0 win.
It took Milan an hour to open the scoring in front of their own fans, but they did so with a moment of real quality. Ruben Loftus-Cheek led a counter-attack and laid off to Alexis Saelemaekers, whose pull-back was fired in by Luka Modric from the edge of the box.
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Milan vs. Bologna: Player ratings
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport has their player ratings from the game, starting with the team’s overall performance and Massimiliano Allegri’s management, both of which were awarded a score of 6.5 out of 10.
The man of the match was Modric given he netted the winner and controlled proceedings in the middle again, getting an 8, while Santiago Gimenez was wasteful in front of goal and got a 5.
A number of players were awarded a 6.5: Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia, Saelemaekers, Adrien Rabiot, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and the substitutes Samuele Ricci and Christian Pulisic drew praise.
Mike Maignan, Strahinja Pavlovic, Youssouf Fofana, Pervis Estupinan and Koni De Winter got half a point less, but it means Gimenez was the only one to get below a passing grade.
Corriere dello Sport gave Modric a 7.5, and 6.5s to Tomori, Gabbia, Saelemaekers, Ricci, Rabiot, Estupinan and Pulisic. The rest got a 6 aside from Gimenez, who was awarded a 5.
🔢 The player ratings for #MilanBologna from @Gazzetta_it and @CorSport.
🤔 Do you agree? pic.twitter.com/d4oHbD4wOr
— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) September 15, 2025
Waiting for the first league goal, ig if we’re swapping to Dovbyk didn’t get any better either. Dovbyk still has zero goal til now.
What’s a definite improvement from last season is the fact that we went through this game with zero shots on our goal. Something unheard of in reason seasons. Teams would usually at will just tear our defenses apart, which make this piece of stats a noticeable observation.
Sure bro! Trust me Milan would have so lost this match last season.
yeah last season we would start the game down 2-0 in the first 20 minutes. Championships are won by grinding out games one at a time. Milan is a new team with a new coach, first we learn to walk (organize and play defense) then we learn to run (score goals). Fonseca and Concecieo wanted to run before learning to walk
I am extremely certain under Fonseca and Sergio we would have lost that game.
The way Rabiot and Modric played was as if they had been there for years, I think we will be am extremely hard team to beat but we need to put away our chances, Tare and Allegri have alluded to the number of shots taken by us that are in vain.
I loved seeing Ricci com on and doing what he does, he won’t be in the bench for long, Estpunian had his best game and Pulisic looked focused and sharp when he came on
Santi’s been wasteful there for sure, but last season we don’t get two of the three big chances he squandered as no-one is staying onside and making those runs, unless Reijnders happened to be further forward at the time.
I think he can come good but at the moment it’s a cycle of confidence going down each time which makes it lower for the next chance.
Agree completely on Santi’s runs.
Disagree completely that only Reijnders did the same last year, as Puli unlocked so many goals last season for others with well-timed runs to the back post while drawing a defender away.
This said, Modric and Rabiot sure looked great. Can’t wait to see them with fully healthy Leao, Nkunku and Puli.