AC Milan’s final friendly of the winter did not go to plan as they were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by PSV Eindhoven at the Philips Stadion.
In truth it was a comfortable win for the Eredivisie side as they ran out to a 2-0 lead before the break thanks to goals from Guus Til and Noni Madueke, with the first being a header from a cross and the second a thumping shot that went in at the near post.
Madueke doubled his tally in the second half with another very well-taken goal from the edge of the box, and that would be enough for PSV as Milan made big changes in the second half to give everyone minutes,
Stefano Pioli opted to name an interesting starting XI for the game consisting of Antonio Mirante in goal, Sergino Dest at left-back, Yacine Adli on the left side of the attack and Ante Rebic as the centre-forward.
The pitch was visibly soaked and Pierre Kalulu was nearly punished for a bad error in the opening exchanges of the game as he surrendered possession and Vertessen was one-on-one with the goalkeeper, though his first touch took the ball past Mirante and out for a goal kick.
Kalulu was required to intervene a few minutes later as El Ghazi wound up a cross from PSV’s left and the Frenchman was luckily able to divert the ball behind for a corner even though the connection was not the sweetest.
All of the early danger came from the home side, and in the ninth minute they took the lead. A cross again arrived from the left flank and met the run of the midfielder Til, who did very well to send the ball back across goal past Mirante to make it 1-0 to the Dutch side.
Midway through the second half PSV doubled their advantage and it came courtesy of a wonderful strike from Madueke. The winger cut in from the right wing onto his left foot and was not closed down, thumping a shot past Mirante at the near post.
An unorganised and sloppy first half for Milan could have got even worse when Mirante flapped at the ball while trying to claim a corner but thankfully De Ketelaere was on hand to clear the danger, and moments later Madueke was again allowed to shoot on his left foot though this time he blazed it over.
A change came at the midway point as Marko Lazetic came on for Rebic in the centre-forward role, with the Croatian’s only real contribution in the opening 45 minutes having been an off-target shot.
Madueke continued to wreak havoc down Milan’s left flank and he doubled his tally with another exceptional goal. Again the Rossoneri made the mistake of allowing him time and space to cut in on his left foot and he slotted into the far corner past a diving Mirante.
Halfway through the second half the decision was made by Pioli to replace almost the entire starting line-up. Diaz, Leao, Vranckx, Bakayoko, Pobega, Tatarusanu, Kjaer, Gabbia, Ballo-Toure and Thiaw all came on, with De Ketelaere, Adli, Bennacer, Tonali, Saelemaekers, Tatarusanu, Kalulu, Tomori, Calabria and Dest going off.
The best period of play for Milan came in the last 15 minutes as Leao looked very lively down the left side, cutting the ball back to Brahim Diaz who should have done better with a first time effort and producing a ball that ended with Vranckx seeing a shot well saved.
The game ended in a rather fittingly worrying fashion as Ballo-Toure came off in agony clutching his shoulder with what appeared to be a dislocation, rounding off a very forgettable night in Holland.
