Several earn plaudits but duo struggle: Player ratings for Venezia-Milan from Italian papers

AC Milan got another win with their new system on Sunday, beating Venezia 2-0 away from home to deepen their relegation fears.

The first goal took less than five minutes to come as Christian Pulisic finished after an assist from Youssouf Fofana. In the final few seconds, Santiago Gimenez ended his drought with a lovely lob from Tijjani Reijnders’ assist, making sure of the points.

Milan kept a third clean sheet in four games, showing that the switch to a three-man defence does appear to have helped at the back. Below are the key stats from the game.

The player ratings

As always you should check out our ratings from the game first, but we start the newspaper round-up with a look at La Gazzetta dello Sport, who give the team’s overall performance a 6.5 out of 10, and Sergio Conceicao the same.

The best player on the pitch in their eyes was Christian Pulisic, who got a 7, while Strahinja Pavlovic struggled the most and was lucky not to give away a penalty for a tackle on Yeboah, so he got a 5.

Youssouf Fofana was given a 7, while Mike Maignan, Matteo Gabbia, Tijjani Reijnders and Santiago Gimenez got a 6.5.

Fikayo Tomori got a passing grade (6), then Alex Jimenez, Tammy Abraham, Kyle Walker and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were given a 5.5, and Rafael Leao a 5.

Corriere dello Sport agree that Pulisic was MOTM and worthy of a 7. Tomori, Gabbia, Fofana and Reijnders also earned their praise as they were given half a mark less.

Pavlovic and Leao struggled and were awarded a 5, then Loftus-Cheek got a 5.5, while the rest received passing grades of 6.

Finally, Tuttosport complete the hat-trick by giving Pulisic a 7. A 6.5 went to Tomori, Gabbia, Fofana and Reijnder. Jimenez and Abraham got a 5.5, and Leao a 5.

🔢 The player ratings for #VeneziaMilan from @Gazzetta_it , @CorSport and @Tuttosport.

🤔 Do you agree? pic.twitter.com/cM2KjOEBnQ

— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) April 28, 2025