AC Milan got the job done in the deciding clash against Salzburg and redeemed themselves from the 2-1 loss last time out. Down below are the player ratings for the Rossoneri, with several great displays.
Starting XI
Tatarusanu (7): Kept a clean sheet, made several good stops and also controlled the aerial duels. Milan can’t ask much more from their backup goalkeeper, who also was decent with his feet today.
Kalulu (7): Tireless defensive display from him with several positive moments. He did really well to always be an option when Milan attacked on the right as well.
Kjaer (6.5): A solid defensive performance and what usually comes with that for him. He can be bolder with his passing, as we know just how well he can fire those balls away.
Tomori (8): Majestic at times from him at the back this evening, certainly making up for his other poor UCL performances. He made a crucial block early on and that seemed to boost his for the rest.
Hernandez (7.5): Up and down, up and down, which we got to see exactly nothing of against Torino. It’s what makes him such a great full-back and today was a good day for him.
Bennacer (8): Similarly to Tomori, who led the defence, Isma certainly controlled the midfield. Salzburg couldn’t take the ball off him and his passing was great as well, dictating the play fully.
Tonali (6.5): A hard-fought game for him with some ups and downs. Not to say he wasn’t good, because he absolutely was, but we also know how amazing he can be.
Rebic (6.5): Just like the previous player, some ups and downs this evening. He got a hockey-assist for the second goal and was important in defence, which makes it a good evening for him.
Krunic (7): Tactically a perfect performance from him during his time on the pitch. The goal was just the icing on the cake, he couldn’t really miss from there but he did well to get into the box.
Leao (7.5): It could have been so much more from him this evening, but oh well. Still set up the third goal with a fantastic run and deserves a lot of praise for how he opened up space for his teammates.
Giroud (9.5 MOTM): Goal, assist, goal, assist – what more can Milan ask of their No.9? He didn’t just do that, but he was also very successful in the hold-up play and his link-up worked much better today.
Substitutes
Messias (6.5): We didn’t really see that much of him but it was a good goal to make for a good rating. He now needs to keep it up.
Pobega (6): Positionally okay, certainly did no wonders but it’s a pass at least.
De Ketelaere (N/A): Near invisible.
Ballo-Toure (6): Some good runs on the left flank, nothing more.
Gabbia (N/A): He didn’t play enough to get a rating.
Tomori looks so much better with Kjaer next to him. Bennacer runs the whole show in midfield. Props to Pioli who set the team not to play safe. Much needed win after the last horror show in Turin.
If Milan played 70% of today’s performance against Torino, they would’ve had an easy Sunday night.
Milan wound’ve had an easy sunday if Leao didn’t wasted that 2 golden chances.
Sometime we are reminded that people like you exist in this world.
True
Theo was incredible tonight, 7.5 feels little for what he did. Certainly better than Leao overall.
Imho
– Kjaer deserves a 7: Milan defense still needs him
– Tomori also a 7 because he made some nasty mistakes in the first half but he played much better compare to Torino
– Leao a 6. He played kinda meh this evening, better than Torino but he still wasted some good chances and selfishly dribbling for nothing
The rest i agreed.
Nice job for Pioli and the boys. Now we can focus back on Serie-A. 3 point is a must vs Spezia because Napoli will face Atalanta, Roma vs Lazio, and Juve vs Inter.
Match had nothing to do with Kjaer. Great player but he was average. Tomori was a rock star and Theo woke up. Both were bad v Torino and it showed, today they played like we have been used to seeing them. Kjaer was ok but nothing spectacular. Salzburg also was very wasteful.
Bennacer was an absolute monster tonight, Giroud is pure class. Every big game he shows up, it’s remarkable.
The real difference on the night was playing Krunic at “AM”. He never really played like an AM and played more like a 3rd mid and that makes all the difference. It’s been obvious since last year that this team plays better with 3 mids. Most times we go with a pure AM our mid struggles. When we play 3 mids we look excellent. We have to stop the AM experiment, our team isn’t suited for it. CDK has the potential but crazy enough our team probably would have been much better off if we bought Frattesi for a 3 man mid rather than CDK as AM.
I have no idea why today was so much better. But I guess the players were a bit more up for it tonight. Now let’s just kill these last games before the break. I hate meeting Spezia so I hope Milan can pump themselves up for this difficult game.
Bennacer and Kjaer
Lol no. Bennacer was a monster but Kjaer was ok. It was 100% motivation. Theo and Rafa were crap v Torino, lazy and disinterested. Tonight they were animals. It’s all motivation and it’d much easier to be fired up in a must win CL game v a random game v Torino.
Nice comfortable win.
Giroud is the star of the night and deserving MOTM but for me it was a joy to watch Theo and Bennacer tonight. They were everywhere.
It seems that Bennacer absorbs the ball like a sponge.
Theo is a manace
The defense was shaky in the 1st half mostly because of Kjaer. His rating is way to high. If I gotta pick a flop of the match it’s definitely him.
The rest were very good.
Now let’s hope we get Porto
And Milan needs to look into Salzburg CB Pavlovic, he was very good, except on the Messias goal, but he was exhausted by then
Rebic is the flop, kaer was shaky too
Kjaer was shaky? Kjaer is so experienced and calm under pressure. What he lacks in speed he makes up in reading of the game and intelligence. Kalulu was great at right back , with Tomori this is our best defensive line affording Theo to play as a winger. Rebic is not in form at the moment but his stubbornness, spirit and unpredictability still make him a handful.
Porto is an excellent team, and Kjaer was a rock.
Let’s hope we get Napoli or TTH or even PSG. We can play against their style and block their attacks.
Porto will be a more dangerous opponent due to their speed and ball movement style. That’s where our defense lacks.
Teams from same country can’t meet (at least until semi’s I think)
loss against torino and win now? i will take it. congrats, Milan for reaching knockout stage. love it!
1) Let’s give it up for Tata. Great game and he takes enough abuse on here. Kalulu was brilliant, should be our starting RB from now on. Kjaer had a couple giveaways but it’s undeniable that the defense plays better as a unit and is more organized when he is in there. Bennacer was MOTM for me, a little pitbull terrorizing Salzburg. Finally, again they are being too kind to Tonali. He was invisible for most of this game other than letting his man he shouldve been marking run through on goal twice. Luckily Kalulu and Tata saved him.
Iirc Giroud first goal was Tonali’s assist, excellent corner kick. He is not invisible, just because he isn’t flashy and a metronome like Bennacer doesn’t mean he did nothing.
Every single Salzburg attack came from Kalulus side, he was solid later on but early on was incredibly exposed. That said he never lacks for effort. Great player but I can’t let my bias towards him cloud what was a hit and miss performance.
Excellent game from the boys, Tomori, he played well in the second half but he was shocking in the first…his concentration has taken a massive dip…good wins over tough opponents. Well done to the boys…and for the those that have been around for a long time FORZA MILAN…our first Round of 16 since 2014! FORZA MILAN SEMPRE
And if I’m not mistaken this gives us a massive boost in funds. Not sure about the amount but I know we’ve made a massive deal with our sponsors if we make it to the Round of 16. The boys really did us proud tonight.
Oliver Giroud 2 goals, 2 great assists. You can always count on him in big games when great players elevate their game.
Krunic the utility man, did his job and nice finish.
Bennacer dominated the midfield.
What a game by Theo, all was missing was a goal.
Tata saved the defense in the first half when Kjaer and Tomori looked constantly a step behind their opponents.
Very good game by Kalulu and Rebic.
Tonali wasn’t much of a factor, lost his man few times in the 1st half but nice assist on 1st goal.
The “MVP” should be renamed to “MWP”- Most Wasteful Player. Another 2 chances in front of the goal missed plus selfish on a 3 vs 2 counter.
We reached our goal of getting thru, now everything we achieve is a plus, with a favorable draw who knows what can happened
Did Leao kill your dog or sleep with your mom or something? Must be something along those lines.
Instead of getting into your emotions, maybe you should try to think if what is written is true or not.
Did he miss 2 clear cut chances, again? ✅️
Was he selfish on the counter after Theo got fouled with both Giroud and Rebic wide open for easy tap in? ✅️
Is he a forward that wastes a lot of clear goal chances?✅️
Some people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed
Lol, yep.
You could’ve done the same! I was wondering if what I asked is actually true. Because there’s no other reason to go after him after a good performance.
Was he one of the best players on the pitch? He was. Did he get one of the highest ratings from all the newspapers? He did. Did he assist a goal? He did. Is he sometimes wasteful and annoying? Sure he is. But is he a cheatcode sometimes? You bet. Did he win us the scudetto? He did. Is he Milan’s most valuable player? Yes. Is he Milan’s best player? He is. Does he have 15 goal contributions (6 goals and 9 assists) in only 17 matches this season? Check it. Are you a ridiculous person for going after this player at the end of every single match? Sorry but you are.
“Was he one of the best players on the pitch? He was.”
Wasn’t.
“Did he assist a goal? He did.”
Nope. Official stats say the 4rd goal was unassisted because the defender plundered it.
*3rd
“Some people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed”
This! They prefer to live in denial.
OK. You do what you gotta do. Leao is not even my favorite Milan player. Tonali is. But I have eyes and I can see the difference he makes.
All the opponents double mark him because they are afraid of him, thus releasing other players. That’s the least he does. You only need to check his stats to understand the difference he makes, but I guess that doesn’t fit your narrative.
I think everyone has a right to comment on what he or she saw. Let’s try not to be rude, we are all fans here. I think your comments are a bit rude. I hope one day you will find it in your heart to accept other people’s comments with a kind heart.
If we had Kessie it would have been 7-0 though…LOL
Sorry, I had to…
Wrong. 10-0. If we also had Hauge it might have been 15.
Kessie should’ve stayed. He just got heavily injured. There’s a chance he will miss the rest of the season.
No way he would have gotten injured if he’d stayed!
Confident and impressive win and exactly what we needed as a response to sundays lacklustre performance against torino.
Hopefully we will get maximum points in the remaing serie a matches before the world cup and gets as favourable cl fixture as possible for the spring,
Most important match and win so far!
Great to see ACM going through, this ticks off one of our main targets this season plus displays a clear proof we are growing stronger year after year.
(Still there is plenty of gap between us and the top teams, but hopefully we can bridge it sometime soon eg bring Okafor?)
Not to be a downer but Tomori and Kjaer were luck to not give up a soft goal. Against a team like man city or Bayern they would’ve been roasted. That said much better performance from everyone and it’s clear Milan need to renew Bennacer asap. Bravo 👏🏿.
Don’t overestimate City or Bayern
I have to agree with the Tomori/Kjaer analysis. I was gonna post about CB being a weakness the season and this game is an example. After last season I thought we’d be OK, but we need to re-add CB to the wish list. Tomori has not been as solid as he was last season, and unfortunately it looks like Kjaer has lost a step and he was already not the fastest. Kalulu is absolutely phenomenal at RB, and I think he’s better there than in the middle (but still very good there). As much as it hurts to say it, he should start there over Calabria. Thus we need a good tall and fast CB to pair with Tomori. Maube Gabbia will continue to grow or maybe Thiaw will begin to emerge, but it’s a position that isn’t locked down.
Are you insane or what? Calabria is the only milan player that whenever he starts a game for milan it will be almost impossible for milan to lose. His winning spirit is contagious and second to none
Yes, I’m a raving lunatic. That loss to Napoli when he got owned by Kvaratskhelia was totally a hoax.
I agree that Kalulu is phenomenal at RB, but I have to disagree with the comment about Calabria and Kvara.
Calabria neutralized Kvara in the Napoli game and only got beaten once, a minute before half time in a none dangerous situation, and the ref gave him a yellow for the foul. Pioli subbed him at half time because of the yellow and a muscle pain that led to him getting seriously injured the following game.
Both Napoli goals were scored in the 2nd half when Calabria wasn’t on the field and Dest was playing at RB
Calabria got owned by Kvara? LOL. CLEARLY you didn’t watch the game. Kvara got past him ONCE. Above the halfway-line. And then Calabria fouled him and stopped the attack. That was the only time Kvara “owned” him. The rest was Calabria taking candy away from a baby.
bb, we’re usually on the same page. Maybe “owned” is a little over the top, but I don’t recall Calabria taking candy from a baby. I still stand by the idea that Kalulu will end up being the better RB if he’s allowed to play there consistently. His speed alone puts him over the top, nevermind his technical ability. But we’re splitting hairs since we seem spoiled for choice at RB, unlike other positions.
And yes, I watched the game. I watch almost every Milan game.
Go back and watch that game. Pretty sure he got beat a grand total of 1 time by Kvara. Damn people hate Calabria. Sucks to be a youth product here, seems forum kids naturally hate homegrown players it’s pathetic. Doesn’t demand a huge salary, works his ass off, amd is actually a good player and one of the top RBs in serie A and still just slammed by our “fans”. This crap reminds me of the leao and tonali haters, so embarrassing.
“Maybe “owned” is a little over the top, but I don’t recall Calabria taking candy from a baby. I still stand by the idea that Kalulu will end up being the better RB if he’s allowed to play there consistently. ”
Kvara didn’t get passed by except for the one time. Calabria stood his ground and took the ball on other times.
And yes, I agree. Kalulu will end up being better RB.
For me, Bennacer is the MOTM. He did incredible job in the mid-field. We couldn’t have asked for more.
Told ya, gabbia is the problem.
Other than renewing with Bennacer, signing an alternative for him should be a priority. None of our other midfielders can dictate play and when he’s not there we struggle.
Asllani would’ve been a good backup, but Inter got him.
We signed one Asllani for our female team :))
Agree with you. We still don’t have replaced Kessie.
Anyone get the impression that De Ketelaere will be loaned out next season?
Big win for Milan. Bennacer was amazing. He did the work of two midfielders today and I’m not quite sure what Tonali did. If you want to know what’s holding Milan back, all you need to know is that they signed Tonali and Pobega to new contracts while Bennacer doesn’t have one. If he was Italian they would have locked up a deal already.
They’re still in the negotiation with the latest offer from Milan at 3.5 million /year + bonus for Bennacer, which is more than what Tonali (2.5 mill) and Pobega (1 million) got.
So stop with your silly “if he was italian they would locked up the deal” conspiracy theory because Theo, Krunic, Tomori -all not Italian- just renewed their contract this year.
Because he is much better than both of those guys and he deserves at least 4 mil. He should have been the first one signed. Especially since they just let their best midfielder in Kessie leave.
Were you around in the times of Gattuso? Because I don’t think you could’ve appreciated him either.
Cá nhân tôi vẫn thấy không ổn ở hàng thủ mùa năm nay ngoại trừ Theo và Kalulu. Tomori trận này tôi vẫn thấy bất ổn. Anh ấy cần hoàn thiện lại.
Please don’t let Bennacer go easily, if him leaving this team it would be huge regression for M&M project
If he were to stay he would have signed already. Same goes for Leao. The people who want to stay have signed their contracts already.
Best performance in UCL this season.
I think if we play like this, we will be the champion…! 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
“I think if we play like this, we will be the champion…! 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆”
Nope. Teams like ManC, PSG, Real etc. WILL punish from the chances Milan gave to Salzburg. They had plenty of great chances but failed to convert.
“He should have been the first one signed”
You skipped out the news back in September where Maldini already offered new contract to Bennacer but he flat out refused and wants to wait until Red Bird took over Milan. You can google that if you don’t believe me.
Milan uder Maldini always respect players. Maldini intention is clear every time he want important players to renew or wants to offload specific players who ask more playing time / didn’t fit with Pioli formation / just failed to impress.
The sad thing is some players didn’t respect Milan / Maldini and thinking they are irreplaceable / bigger than Milan. I’m not talking about Bennacer btw which i hope Milan and him can agreed with a good numbers and pen the paper quickly.
This is a reply for @K
I’m sure they did. And I’m sure it was not anything close to what he is worth, which is how they do all their negotiations. They lowball offer, drag it out for months, then other teams swoop in and offer more money. If they just give the player what he is worth from the start, they can avoid all this. Management just like a lot of people om here just expect every player to take to take less money to stay at Milan. Doesn’t work that way.
Great performance this is the milan I know, we must be playing this kind of game attacking, let’s hope we get Benfica, Porto or Tottenham I’m sure with them we can go through
Kalulu (8) – perfect evening for him, did everything right
Tomori (6.5) – looked a bit shaky and made some errors, but much better than Torino
Theo (8) – one of the best performances of the night, alongwith Bennacer and Giroud
Tonali (8) – midfield maestro, deserves all the praise for consistent performance like Bennacer every single game
Yes fans ..I did say before this game ,that we would win and that Olivier Giroud would score .
He is world class ,yes listen world class ,why because he has so much vision and technical ability.
He knows exactly where the players around him are and great awareness as to where to be at the right time .this is a great skill and not down to luck .
Love this man and on this form ,surly he will represent France at the World Cup .so no doubt about it man of the match Olivier Giroud..We are a much better team when he starts the game .
The team what can I say defended really well and we had to against a very fast and skillful team .
Bennacer,Tomori ,Kalulu ,Hernandez …all so good as was the whole team …Must of course mention the man Rafael leao ,what a exciting player he is ,and works so well with Olivier up front …We need Rafael to stay with us as he can open up so much space for others ..He is very good ,but will get even better .Krunic worked his socks off as did Rebec..
What a performance AC Milan ,in the last 16 of the champions leauge but we can go further than that
the last 8 …I believe that ,on last nights performance we can compete with anyone ..Let’s remember that we are not out of the scuddeto race ,but we have a game coming up ,,we can win it ..We have a great team and a great manager in pioli ..let’s keep believing fans ..It’s A C Milan for me …
Great performance by the team. Probably the best so far this season. Hope we can keep this up throughout, we’ll be certain to win something again this season.