AC Milan will head into the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Napoli with a slight advantage, having won 1-0 tonight. Down below are the player ratings for the Rossoneri.
Starting XI
Maignan (7.5): He made several good stops at the start of the game, as well as the start of the second half, but above all made a crazy save on Di Lorenzo towards the end.
Calabria (7): He wasn’t beaten by Kvara many times this evening (just like in the 4-0 win) and it’s clear that he knows how to handle the Napoli winger. One could wish for some more attacking contribution, though.
Kjaer (7): Solid at the back with good positioning, although it was obvious Elmas was never going to win that battle. The Dane also hit the bar with a good header at the end of the first half.
Tomori (6.5): He did well at the back, but it felt like most of Napoli’s chances came from his side. He had one great long ball to Leao but we needed to see a lot more than that. Overall, though, he did well and these are just details.
Hernandez (7): He had the fighting spirit from the first minute and that is so important in games like these. His runs in attack helped Milan cause problems for Napoli many times and above all when Anguissa was sent off.
Krunic (7): He made a mistake right at the start with a sloppy clearance but at least he was able to block the following effort. Apart from that, though, he was secure when in possession and allowed Milan to breathe many times. In defence, his work must be highlighted as he was crucial.
Tonali (7): Another great display from the youngster who battled hard from start to finish. He has found his role again since the switch back to a four-man defence, that’s for sure.
Diaz (7.5 – MOTM): So many successful dribbling and the build-up for the goal, just wow. Milan seriously need to look into signing him permanently. His importance has been evident in the Champions League.
Bennacer (7.5): He was more present than the Empoli game and thus redeemed himself in that sense. The goal was obviously crucial in the end, hence the rating, but otherwise it was a performance on par with his midfield colleagues.
Leao (7.5): His ability to run with the ball and attract the defenders was very important this evening and he also got the assist for the goal. He just lacked the final effort today, goalscoring-wise.
Giroud (6.5): He wasn’t always that involved, but when he was the pass was almost always right. The link-up thus worked well with his teammates, especially in the first half.
Substitutes
Saelemaekers (6): No solo goal this time, but it was also a tough game to enter since Napoli kind of sat back towards the end.
Rebic (5.5): He can do better and he knows it. The problem is that he mixes good things with really poor ones.
wow those are very generous ratings.
Mike Maignan deserves at least a 9, MOTM by far. Saved several goals.
Based on how the game was played we should be happy with this result. First time this season Napoli outplayed Milan. They were the better team even with a man down. Their midfield dominated ours.
Outside of a couple counter attacks and that Kjaer chance of a corner we did nothing offensively.
Brahim again the game changer. Outside of that our forwards were poor.
Hopefully we come in with a better attitude in the 2nd leg. Kim and Anguissa being suspended will help but not if we play the same way as we did tonight.
Forza Milan
I agree we were not great today. Napoli dominated.
We need to play with more confidence and composure, like in the last game.
1 goal is very small advantage going to Naples. So we need to step up our level.
It’s very frustrating we couldn’t take advantage of the sending off.
That was a huge opportunity to advance to the semi’s.
Mike MOTM. In a way it was a typical match for this Milan side. Lower possession, dangerous counters, wasted chances. Should have had a least one more goal. That said it’s a good result and Napoli will be missing Anguissa and Kim.
THATS right but if Napoli gets Oshimen we are fu***ed. I hope that we can play better in the next round. But if we get past Napoli there is still other good clubs waiting for us. I still think that we have a chance, but we are always winning by 1 point (Tottenham, Napoli). It would be good to have a big difference to win.
Go Milan
What game were you watching? Milan were mediocre and we still won. Napoli had a decent amount of possession, but we still had 3 of the 4 best chances of the game. They didn’t outplay us at all. Kvara was shut down, Lozano, too, and Elmas. We should have score at least 1 or 2 more goals.
Spot on comments Z, totally agree with your view.
Napoli read the game better and dominated the play by constantly pressing us high. Once we penetrated their lines with Brahim’s smart move we scored.
We should play better than that and have better passing (like the match in Napoli) in the second leg to have a good chance to progress.
Result is positive, lots to improve.
Can Rebic just get injured during training for God sake. He adds little or nothing to the game.
Nice game from the guys.
2nd leg awaits
That’s stupid, no real fans will hope their own player get injured.
He’s clearly not a fan
He’s a dead man, Walking
🤭
Say it again. Rebic is one of those players that adds unnecessary pressure to the rest of the team.
Rebic was actually making things happen today.. 5.5? Nah
Nice game I must say, but a lot of players lack discipline like Tonali for example wanting to play every ball even when he isn’t in the right position to thus choking up space. We need these players to play thier role and well. Massive shout-out to Diaz and Krunic. Krunic is adding what we have been lacking in the midfield game after game we need a more composed Tonali to complement.
Kvaradona???
Rebic only mixes poor and really poor ones recently. Don’t see a point why we keep playing him.
How on earth does Giroud loose so much headers to defenders ? It’s begining to really irk me out
Some naturally unhappy fellows here… Lol
I feel like Mike was the MOTM with Brahim a close second. I think Giroud’s score of 6.5 is a bit high, he didn’t do much. It’s criminal that the ref didn’t call a PK on Alexis at the end. Also a pity that Rafa and Kjaer didn’t score in first half, they were so close! I disagree with the rater here that Rebic can do better. He cannot. He’s been poor for a long long time. He is a shadow of his former self and needs to be sold in July.
I think we should have tried harder to score a second after Napoli went a man down. Taking just a one-goal lead to Naples with Osimhen back is scary. But hopefully Maignan will get another great performance and we’ll advance. Forza Milan!
Outside of the goal Bennacer wasn’t very tidy, Calabria played well offensively considering his job was to be the defensive cover on his side. Mike was far better than everyone else and his rating should reflect that. Theo wasn’t on the same page as the rest of the attack. Nevertheless proud of the team for getting the result despite not playing their best game. Bravo
Good win with several standout performances but we need to be more decisive. We didn’t put Napoli under pressure when they went down to 10 men and they nearly stole the game if it wasn’t for Maignan. The end was frustrating to be honest, Salemakers constantly diving and Leao and Rebic complicating attacks. It almost made me forget what a great night this was for Milan
That was a penatly tho IMO
Krunic should get lower rating and Diaz as well…
If Milan play in 5 days like this, Napoli will have great opportunity to pass in next round.
Pioli must rest all our best players against Bologna and pray in second game versus Napoli.
We had big luck and big Maignan. Who knows what will happen next…
Rest players?!!! We’re going to miss out on top 4 because our bench players (excluding defenders) offer little to nothing. Who can we rely on? Origi, Rebic, CDK, Pobega, Vrankx? Unfortunately, our starters will need to keep working overtime. A special shoutout to Giroud who deserves a bonus. At 36, he’s carrying our attack and staying fit, constantly playing for club and country.
Hell yeah. All those people that blame giroud for missing this and that, they forget that he is 36 playing game in game out, went to the wc finals and so far (thank god and keep it this way) hasn’t picked up an injury. Look at the other 36 year olds out there.
Without Maignan, we will loose at least 3 goals.. Credit as MOTM for him
This is a great result. Milan could win another 4-0 if Leao, Tonali, and Kjaer could score.
Calabria, the player who always got bad treatment by some fans in here, put Kvara in his pocket AGAIN.
But it’s crazy that someone said Diaz and Krunic rating should be lower when both players performed really well :/
Great result ( couldve been better) napoli came here all guns blazing. Lads looked very tired in the second half. Most of them need a rest agaisnt bologna in order to have a chance at napoli’s turf. But again, we also need top 4. Thats where depth is important folks. Our starting 11 has been playing constantly, our bench looks like rebic. However, we can play very good on our good days. Lets hope we keep having good days. Shinter is next for us in champions league. Few counters we can catch napoli off guard. Forza milan.
But that is kinda on Pioli his rotations are atrocious no wonder bench players are not in form if they don’t play or when they play they are thrown into shity situation chasing a game
Quality in the bench is poor man. Pioli has his faults, but not much to work with. Especially upfront, 0 back up. We have all seen when there were rotations. Boy or boy. Thiaw, saladmaker, kalulu, and vranckx are the only decent back ups in my opinion. The rest might as well play in seria c. We need more kalulu like back ups. Players that can easily be starters.
Maignan MOTM, deserves at least 8..
Once Napoli got red card Pioli put Rebic in so Milan can play in 10 aswell
🤣
Inflated ratings for many players. Krunic made a great number of mistakes and passing errors. Unlike ptevious few games in which he was excellent, today his performance was nowhere near.
I think you’re thinking of Bennacer…
Krunic and Bennacer – both were a bit careless at times. Bennacer more. Seeing him passively waiting for the ball while receiving passes was a bit frustrating. He needs to be a bit more sharp, like the way he was at the beginning of the season – attacking the ball more rather than waiting for it.
There are regrets as we could’ve scored more when they went down to 10 men, but can’t really complain. We all would’ve taken a 1-0 win and suspensions for Anguissa and Kim before the game.
Gotta play with more quality in the second leg.
Well, the main thing is the result. Our play in the build-up phase is so bad. I haven’t seen so many long balls since Swindon in the nineteen eighties. Either we couldn’t do it or we lacked the courage to even try. I thought Milan looked gun shy in the beginning, but it was nice that they put on the pressure late in the first half.
Again, the result is good and I think we have a good chance to reach the semi-final s.
I was really surprised that milan were the team who looked nervous at the start, particularly tomori.
Given we beat them away in the league and they were in our house and our competition.
We showed in Naples we can play a lot better, so I hope they step up in the next leg
Simon Kjaer. Enough said.
I’m going to say something controversial: bench Tomori. Bench Tomori and play Thiaw next to Kjaer for the rest of the season. Maybe Thiaw-Kalulu if Kjaer needs to be rested for the CL. Tomori is just too often drifting out of position, he sometimes looks like he doesn’t know what to do with the ball when building out of the back and gives off a kind of a manic energy that is not what I want out of a central defender. He was a great “discovery” last season, but I think maybe we should consider cashing in on him in the summer, and pick up Ndicka on a free. I bet he would fetch 30-35m from a midtable PL club and we can use the money to help fund the improvements we need elsewhere.
Nothing controversial here …
Kjaer definitely needs to be starting. He is the glue that holds that defense together. But I do think you need someone with speed alongside of him, and that may not be Thiaw. Kalulu or Tomori with Kjaer works. Tomori and Kalulu together does not. They are too similar, both over aggressive ball chasers and undersized.
Well done ragazzi. Let’s enjoy this moment.
Good display, but I say again: I could have reserved the 4×0 for the CL tie haha… But anyway.
This was a well executed game plan by Pioli, especially given the fact that Spalletti had made some tactical tweaks to try and stop a repeat of what happened in Naples recently. One of those tweaks in particular, was allowing Anguissa to bring the ball up from defense, which gave us a lot of problems early, due to the fact that Bennacer was designated to mark Lobotka, while also being the most advanced midfielder, thereby giving Anguissa loads of space to move the ball forward almost unimpeded at times. We eventually adjusted well and grew in confidence and fully deserved the win.
With that said, my motm would have to be Maignan, even though I felt that some of those saves were routine for a keeper of his calibre, and also because of what I’ve grown accustomed to seeing from him in a Milan jersey.
Next for me would be Calabria. The captain was remarkable again, and honestly, I think that it’s high time he has some respect attached to his name. To think that he’s come up against a player who, from his position on the left wing, has dominated, and in some cases, embarrassed his opposite number the entire season. A player who’s in serious contention for MVP honours at the end of the season and a player, who I might add, gets more love here than our own Leao. Yet there are so many who would be willing to dismiss his performances against their hero as mere luck or nothing spectacular. SHAME ON YOU!!!
Then for me it’d be Bennacer and Diaz to follow, in that order. Both players did well, especially Bennacer after a very slow start. Diaz’s play to set him free was very risky ( he tried it earlier in the game from a wider position ) but the effectiveness was brilliant. The fact that there were three midfielders converging on him to retrieve the ball, made it all the more devastating when he broke free.
Everyone put in a good shift and they deserve the win. I was extremely happy to hear the tv commentators and pundits come up with excuses for why their over hyped team lost. I had a good laugh when I heard the BT Sport commentator continuously say that this Milan team is street smart. I guess it’s some type of code.
100% acuratte about Anguissa we showed our hand to Napoli in the leauge and they made changes but we adjusted that is so hard to do in the midle of a big game! Calabria deserves more credit as soon as we got healty Calabria we look so much more solid in the defence than before. Some Milan fans are so delusional we sucked for two months and Napoli are in a fluke type of form and we beat them 2x in row and people still complain how we played. They are a better squad this year maybe not the firt 11 but as a squad they are better we beat them because they are so week mentaly . I guess that 7 on the shirt means something…
Totally agree against Calabria. It’s now three games he basically zeros out Kvara, as he did so as well in the first game of the season that we ended up losing 2-1.
Napoli is not a fluke. We just seem to have their number at the moment, just like Fiorentina seems to have ours for example. Also, they were playing without Osimhen, which is like us playing without Leao or Theo. Take one of those two out and we’re markedly worse. Regardless, playing 3 games against the same opponent in 2 weeks is always going to make of an interesting tactical and psychological battle. I expect the return in Naples with Osimhen in the lineup to be a different animal. Fortunately this time they will be without Kim Min-Jae, who is up for defender of the year.
*about Calabria
Just one thought Kim is the most overrated CB since Van Dijk
I don’t know how his career will pan out in the long run, but this season he has been fundamental to Napoli. After Milan’s games, Napoli’s are the ones I’ve watched the most of and I’ll vouch for him. As such, he’s a big loss for them. The alternatives are Ostigaard and Juan Jesus (!). The former has only made 8 appearances for a total of 500 minutes this season, and the latter has made 12 for 857 minutes. My guess is it will be Juan Jesus due to experience. CB may be the only area in which Napoli has a shallower bench than we do.
Totally agree. The only thing that i may add is that everyone on the pitch gave everything. Totally, calabria showed his true captain colors. Kudos to him, both games he shot the georgian down, also helped upfront a few times. Also theo man, such a smart player. So good at having our opponents pick up cards. Leao is leao, we all know what how threatening he is for any defense. Giroud at 36 years young, kudos to him. All 11 fought like lions.
Spot on Milanito! Maignan def MOTM.
Napoli also used alot of gas in the first 20 mins.
Great win. Wasn’t clean so to speak but a win is a win as they say. Too bad we couldn’t get that second goal. Holding Napoli scoreless for 3 games in a row will be very difficult but hopefully we can score one early on Tuesday. Mike is exceptional and Kajer was a rock today. We were a bit sloppy and got away with a few close calls but we got the job done and that is what matters. Forza Milan!
Pioli should continue to use simon kjaer.That guy is good.
been great for over a decade, but yeah kjær is one of our most important players on and off field in my book.
Giroud was quite horrible. Why are we not playing CDK as striker if Giroud keeps adding so little? Hes probably tired, so sub him in 70th minute.
“Giroud was horrible”??
Did you even watch the game? He pretty much made little to no mistake and couldn’t do much more as we were dominated most of the game..
You guys seem to only see football through stats and number of stepovers achieved, it’s actually quite concerning to watch so many games and understand so little about football
If CDK or anyone else had played instead of Giroud we’d be losing matches left and right. Those guys are terrible as a striker. Giroud sacrifices himself ALL MATCH LONG for the team. His instructions under Pioli is not necessarily to score goals, but to keep the center backs occupied and release other players like Leao and Diaz.
This game plan that Pioli has put together is the only thing that works considering the players at his disposal. We can’t play to great success any other way.
I cannot believe there are still people asking for CDK to play… Clueless.
Froza milan i pray for your win comrade yemi orungbamila global citizen member africa on gold level
Great win even though we looked sloppy and without purpose and urgency early on in the game, It would have been nice with an extra goal but as i see it napoli has been very hurt by the fact that they will miss both Kim and Anguissa who both are very important players for their squad n the next match. I’ll be greatly disapointed if we doesnt proceed now regardless if oshimen returns for the reverse fixture.
Great win but we really should have had a couple of stone wall penalties on Saele and Krunic. Maignan easily MOTM. Saved our butts the first 20mins. Napoli could have scored at least 3. But I hope we don’t rue the missed opportunities. The way we implement the strategy for this game was impressive. Pioli knew Napoli would come out guns ablaze and they did for the first 20 mins and then they ran out of gas pretty early and then we started to be more compact and incisive. Good work team