It was another tough night for Milan against Chelsea but not so much because of their own efforts on the pitch, but rather because of the referee. Down below are the player ratings for the Rossoneri.
Note: The ratings are generally low not just due to poor performances, but simply because the players weren’t in a position to perform their best after Milan received the red card.
Starting XI
Tatarusanu (5): He continues to be slow on the ball and quite poor with his feet. There were times when Milan needed to play on the ground and he opted for the easy long ball instead (that many times ended up straight to Chelsea).
Kalulu (6): A hard-fought performance from him and he did really well considering the circumstances. Remained brave after the red card and did what was possible.
Gabbia (6): He marked his man way well throughout the game and actually looked quite well even though it was his first Champions League start.
Tomori (5): We can go on and on about the referee (it wasn’t a pen, by the way), but Tomori lost Mount in that situation and ended up on the back foot. We know him as a defender that doesn’t let that happen in the first place.
Hernandez (5.5): He’s certainly one of the players that weren’t allowed to play as planned due to the red card. Incredibly hard to rate him, therefore, but the feeling is that he could have done better.
Bennacer (6.5): He was very good when he was on the pitch and tried his best to make up for the deficit.
Tonali (6): Not always the best technically, but the fighting spirit wasn’t lacking from him in what was always going to be a tough game for the midfield (especially after the red).
Krunic (5): Nothing spectacular, that’s for sure, but hard work nevertheless. He was lacking a bit with his feet, hence the rating even though, as said, ratings generally are affected by the red card.
Diaz (N/A): He was sacrificed after the red card and that was a shame as he started well.
Leao (6): It would be so harsh to not give him a pass for his performance tonight. He tried very hard and ended up creating a few chances for Milan. Given how the game progressed he was free to roam and try to create something out of nothing.
Giroud (4.5): He just hasn’t been quite the same since the international break. He lost many duels and when he won them, he struggled to find a teammate. He missed a huge chance at 0-1 and it just wasn’t good enough.
Substitutes
Dest (5.5): Not that bad, actually, with some nice plays but he ended up missing a good chance.
Pobega (5): Physicality but not much else.
Rebic (5.5): He won the first duel but ultimately didn’t get the ball much at all.
Ballo-Toure (N/A): He didn’t play enough to get a rating.
Origi (N/A): He didn’t play enough to get a rating.
To Ali can be proud he worked hard while Leao was jogging around Pogba style throughout the match, nothing positive from anyone besides Tonali…the defense also have no confidence in Tata, and I don’t blame them, he’s terrible. No positives to take from this farce of a match.
*Tonali
Wasn’t Bennacer good too I think he was best probably for Milan
Tonali? The guy who ran around a lot and gave the ball away nearly every time he had it?
Starting krunic was already a mistake then giroud we all knew he shouldn’t be starting this match where defender was Thiago Silva who could have been beaten by rebic pace then siebert did great job and look how rude he is they are asking him to review but he doesn’t even review that really effected the game bad. We just cannot day much because the match went unfair
I would not be too harsh on the team today given the terrible refereeing and recent injuries. We should learn from these two games against Chelsea and become a stronger side. We need to finish 2nd in the group and everything is still in our hands. And, when all our players are fit, I want to see less of Krunic in such important games.
Definitely I don’t know if Krunic has naked pictures of Pioli or something but all this faith in him hasn’t been justified. I’m tired of getting screwed by the ref in Europe, the penalties against Barcelona, this, Atletico last season, just tired, because this is our home, Champions League is our home, and we’ve been getting screwed for the past decade.
Well tbh ref spoiled the game it was never a red card to make matters worse mount stayed on his feet……the ref was terrible and those clowns in var were asleep since their masters in uefa who never stop to please their masters in epl kept on licking their @$$3S….plz Mr Alexsander ceferin change name from uefa to ukfa
The REFEREE is just one foolish kid that shouldn’t be assigned a match of this calibre…… He was acting like a lunatic throughout the firsthalf!!! I decided not to watch the secondhalf. Though Tomori was the last man, but I saw that as a dive from Mount. Too bad. It’s a huge shame to UEFA!!
Refs from farmer leagues ruining biggest competition in world of football, maybe even the whole world of sports.
They need to be scrutinized to the point where one or two mistakes like this would mean the end of their career, even financial ruin. Football has suffered more than enough at the hands of corrupt and incompetent refs.
This is our home, Champions League is our home and we’ve been getting screwed by these refs pushing clubs who make more money (Barcelona with those 2 penalties), Atletico last season and now this, they are killing the sport to push an agenda. Now that we’re back it’s just opened up more old wounds from the early 2010’s, where we were getting screwed regularly.
Atleast super league made some sense we wouldn’t get this shi
3rd year in a row we get screwed by the refs.
Forget UEFA, give me super league and give me AI or robots referring. Enough of this clown show.
On the bright side, after Dinamo- Salzburg draw, Milan still hold the UCL destiny in their own hands. Win the next 2 games and we are thru.
Pioli made a mistake with the sub of Brahim. He was the beat Milan player up to that point. I would have taken either Giroud or Leao, instead of Brahim
I think what frustrates me the most is this.
Going by the referee’s logic, if Tomori’s action is malicious with a hand on his shoulder (without pulling him back forcefully) which he then chooses to remove, how is Mount’s manner of holding his arm outstretched back against Tomori not as ugly?
I really can’t wrap my head around this decision. Not to mention letting VAR intervene, nor the fact that Mount actually went his way, pulled the trigger and had his shot saved.
Mind-boggling to say the least.
Pioli should try 433 with Mirante Kalulu Tomori Gabbia Theo aster Tonali Bennacer Brahim rebic leao. On the second i feel like Tata could have saved it maybe I’m wrong
Tatarusanu gets a 5 for playing long balls? Isn’t that a bit harsh considering we were a man down and it was not plausible to build from the back?
I feel there is a bias against Tata in the ratings after every match. We all miss Maignan but please try to be objective.
Awful refereeing, never should have been a penalty, let alone a red card.
Lost in the shuffle with the bad refs decision is how bad Tomori had been this season. Got beat easily by Mount .
Brahim was the only attacking spark and Pioli took him out.
With a man down you take out Giroud for a defender and you take out Leao for someone that will actually run more than usual like Rebic.
Tonali was the best Milan player, he fought the whole 100 minutes, non stop running.
Kalulu ,Gabbia and Bennacer were also good.
The rest were disappointing to say the least.
Just win the next 2 games and no one will care about this game.
Forza Milan
The referee was a complete shite. It’s the same case like that kebab Cakir referee against Atletico last year.
We played well and dominated for 20 minutes and then suddenly the referee ruined the match with very questionable red card.
For me, all Milan players played well. They keep running and pressing despite they lost the numbers and the referee keeps throwing yellow at them for soft tackle 🤦♂️
Kudos for Curva Sud too who keeps chanting for 90+ minutes.
We still have hope to qualify. Need to win against Zagreb and Salzburg.
Even with this new uefa refereeing injustice. 3rd in 3 years, Milan will still go thru.
Forza Milan
How can this reff be in the champions league or he was payed or he should be a weatherman or something
I really thought we’d opt for same formation and players as in the juventus game, but Pioli had to be Pioli and sneak Krunic in the starting lineup.
Aside from coaches mistake, I hope the players learnt the lesson taught them by Chelsea today, that one player cannot make a team. The idea of one player trying to dribble past 4 to 5 players is disgusting especially when options are clearly available. The coach should emphasize on team work rather than a stupid selfish play that gets us nowhere.
Another point is, though we were one player down but like in the first match our players ain’t mobile enough, nobody running into spaces to receive passes, lack of coordinated marking and all.
The coach has alot to do honestly cus our pattern isnt cut out to play against top European teams.
I hope we get it right. Forza Milano
And started Krunic was working. Milan was in control for 20 minutes until the fkin referee ruined the match!!!
Tonali not the best technically? I think that should be a joke, because if there is any player who is good technically in the team are him and Bennacer!
A little harsh on Tata, I think he did a decent job.
Milan definitely looked better than the last game, even with 10 men. The ref essentially ended this game 20 mins in. This new formation might be worth sticking with. Diaz looks better on the RW. Gabbia did a nice job. Bennacer I think was Milan’s best player tonight. Tonali put in a good effort as well. Giroud really should have scored. I think the defense with Kalulu on the right with Tomori, Kjaer or Gabbia in the middle is the way to go. Good thing is if Milan win their next two games they are thru.
The ratings are a bit awful. Some of the best players are given poor ratings, while the poor ones are given good ratings!
Tata – 4 (Too many long balls with 10 men)
Kalulu – 8
Gabbia – 7
Tomori – 6.5 (It was not a penalty, the ref messed up)
Theo – 6 (not his usual best, but he was coming off injury)
Bennacer – 7.5
Tonali -8.5 (MOTM, technically the best player)
Krunic – 3 (Does not significant but is always starting the game – God only knows what Pioli sees that others don’t)
Leao – 6 (Tried a bit too much, but was also rightfully marked heavily as the danger man by Chelsea)
Giroud – 0 (Worst – Did nothing to deserve any rating)
Brahim – 7 (Looked outstanding, but Pioli decides to take the best attacking player off while keeping Giroud)
Dest – 6 (Seemed lively and created some good offensive moments)
Pobega – 5.5 (Good at pressing, but has to improve his end product and final ball)
Rebic – 6 (Why is he on the bench, when he is a player who can constantly create something out of nothing? Giroud starts for doing nothing, while Rebic is benched. I don’t understand Pioli)
Origi – 5.5 (First time seen him doing a bit of running, and hopefully he can do it for more games without getting injured).
I’ve been saying Dest for RW. He can actually play with offense and help out with defence without being required for defence. Gabbia and Kalulu were great individually but together you can tell they haven’t played with each other. In any case I think both did well considering the circumstances. Other than that this was a game to forget.
My goodness what an attrocious ref. Way to card happy with Milan players but when the same type of fouls or worst for Chelsea he doesn’t call. The foil by Tomori u have to abide by the double jeopardy rule: either yellow and pen or if outside the box, red with no pen. That was a yellow only IF you deemed it a foul. It’s 50-50 for me. The other thing which bothered me was that it’s a straight red so was reviewable and Var didn’t intervene meaning other refs thought this was ok
There will be always some sh*t going on the field. Mild shirt pulling is considered red card?? Then the ref can finally sit on his ass and be banned from the match irl after this match in ucl.
Well to be honest, UCL is a distant dream for Milan. I hope Milan goes through to the knock out phase just for tournament money. For me, this team clearly wasn’t ready to go far in UCL, especially, when you guys always back CDK with time to adapt. This team doesn’t have squad depth and fully adapted pricey player, plus injury for competing in UCL. IMHO, 2nd star before merda is reasonable objective.
Agree with you. Milan is not ready for European football. The sale of Milan to New bosses affected the whole team over the summer. Get real, focus on Seria A.
Lol, who said we were any kind of favorites for the CL? Why does it have to be all or nothing? Did you forget that least season was our first CL campaign in 9 years? I saw an even game for the first 18 minutes. Maybe even Milan on top. Qualifying for the knockout was always the objective for this season and that’s still very possible. Keep calm and carry on.
Our selection for the game was wrong. Giroud should have started from the bench. Rebic should have started. Krunic should have been in the bench also for pobega. When you put wrong selection you put pressure on defender to make mistake
We need upgrade referee or VAR so the they didn’t have error mind
I would like to point out a tactical blunder we made…..when we knew we got outplayed last game with Chelsea. What was piole thinking by bombarding midfield with even your full backs especially theo were packing the midfield…..they were leaving to much space for their fullbacks to make forwarding runs…..and second mistake did any guy noticed the gap between two cbs it was more than 40 meters which lead to the goal….you can’t have this against an epl side who relies on their full backs…..there was nothing genius of Graham Potter it was a gifted goal by our tactical flaws. And about tomori he is way faster than mount he would have easily got hold of the situation even before he made that run inside penalty box.he makes that mistake mount goes down a penalty yes red card no that was one amateur refereeing….ruined the entire night…..Well perhaps we might learn like this but one thing is for sure there is a big difference between seria a and European nights….these tactics might work domestically but well we got robbed last night but our own flaws made it work out…….just my personal opinion.
Away from the opponents – Chelsea and Referee issue, there are 2 pints of concern for this 2022/23 Milan:
1. Our defenders have become soft. Taking the Tomori challenge for example, last season Tomori would have aggressively stopped him before he nears the box (of which he was not the last man then). We need to work on the close marking.
2. Making the most of af chances. Giroud had the chance to cancel out the lead almost immediately but lost a free header, and that would have put the opponent in danger and difficulty. Brahim was our brightest spot in the attack at that time, plus the overmarked Leao. From the turnout of things, Giroud should have been sacrificed instead of Brahim after losing such opportunity (Same happened with Man City, Mahrez lost a penalty and was sacrificed for the red card). Chelsea made the most of half chances in the first leg as well. In CL, errors are punished dearly. Maccabi made the most of theirs against Juventus as well.
Milan start to make the most of half chances! It is a priority for the competition.
The result was because of the sending off and the penalty..it changed the whole match ,and yes a disappointing result ..That said the team did not give up and tried so hard even with the 10 men ..
Rafeol leao was a little disappointing ,but again due to us having 10 men ,he had times two players marking him ..I hear unfair criticism of Olivier Giroud ,but he put in a lot of effort to hold the ball up and worked very hard with little service ,but again the sending off changed the game ,yes Olivier should have scored with a header from only a few yards out..But he will be back ,and so will AC Milan ..We can still qualify for the final sixteen of the champions leauge…We are still in the scuddeto race …keep believing fans
I won’t like to be adjudged as criticising Giroud unfairly, unlike some others as you posited but my concentration is on “making the most out of half chances”.
Dest found one – we could have halved the deficit then.
Leao also had an opportunity when he wanted to dribble past the 3 CBs but was unlucky.
The oyster difference is that Giroud’s came early after the card when we could have dusted off the pressure and also helped the coach to better manage the game. Maybe it could have been a draw at halftime and probably full time.
Milan – Napoli was another example where we had so many chances created but little yield unlike Napoli.
Some people saying it was a yellow and penalty I don’t think so because Tomori didn’t pull him so hard and neither he caused him to go on ground he just dived to shoot everything was fine even no one thought of penalty until ref gave it