AC Milan lost their first friendly clash of the USA tour as Real Madrid prevailed 3-2. However, there are plenty of positives to take from the game and down below are the player ratings for the Rossoneri.
Starting XI
Sportiello (5): He made some good saves but it was indeed a huge howler on Real’s first goal. It’s one to forget for the goalkeeper but in his defence, he actually looked solid apart from that.
Calabria (6): A shakey start to the first half, position-wise, but he recovered and was alright all things considered.
Simic (6): For his age, he looked very mature even after Real Madrid had scored two quick goals. He didn’t pass the ball immediately when in possession and that was nice to see. Also had a couple of good interventions.
Tomori (5.5): In the first half, notable actions included the goal (nice header) and a crucial diving block. However, in the second half, he made a huge mistake on Real’s second goal and also struggled a lot more.
Florenzi (5.5): He was actually good in his passing but he didn’t really bring much to Milan’s game when going forward.
Loftus-Cheek (5.5): There are definitely positive signs from the Englishman, as he has the ability to advance with the ball with great strength. However, in this game he wasted too many counters by either misplacing the pass or not controlling the ball properly.
Krunic (6): Some questionable moments here and there perhaps (although no fatal errors), but he did well to intercept the ball before Romero’s goal and also was comfortable in the build-up.
Pobega (5.5): Just like Loftus-Cheek, he made some great strides with the ball but lacked the final touch/controll.
Messias (N/A): Came off with an injury before the first half was over.
Colombo (6): He was a warrior for the Rossoneri up front and also had some good passing moments in the hold-up play. He made several good runs but didn’t get the ball from his teammates at the right moments.
Pulisic (6.5): One of the best for sure, getting the assist for Tomori’s goal and looking bright overall.
Substitutes
Romero (6.5): He scored with a stunning strike shortly after coming on and he wasn’t afraid to get stuck in either, helping the defence in several duels. A lively game from him, in a very good way.
Leao (6): He added that spark in attack that we have become used to, almost getting an assist for Reijnders but the effort was blocked.
Reijnders (6): He looked very good on the ball and immediately showed that he likes to go forward. Nearly got a goal, as mentioned, but the effort was well-blocked.
Maignan, Saelemaekers, Thiaw, Kjaer, Theo, Adli, De Ketelaere, Giroud (N/A): We didn’t see enough of these players to give a proper assessment in the 20 minutes they played.
Kjaer Rating : 3.5
Exactly, a huge mistake with Vini.j
Alexis (5)
CDK (3)
Adli (5)
I started watching late and Adili tried
Romero looked very good.
Leao looked very promising for the season.
Giroud was hungry and dangerous.
Pulisic will be very tricky for our opponents.
RLC will be a power house in the middle.
Thiaw look solid and comfortable.
Simic looks promising.
Sportiello looked good except that howler.
Calabria held his ground.
Theo looked decent.
Krunic was good.
Pobega is soo slow…
Colombo needs to be more impactful.
Kjaer was very bad today.
Salamander was not great.
Rejnders was a bit timid.
Adli tried.
CDK looked the same – lost
Messias look decent but got injured.
Florenzi needs to be more impactful.
I expected a super save from Maignan on vini’s goal.
“Sportiello looked good except for the howler”.
That’s funny. If Tata had that same performance people on here would absolutely be killing him. Sure helps to be Italian on this site.
Sorry i am not Otalian but Please… The only thing Tata os comperable to is one of those manequens that you use to practice free kicks
😂😂😂😂
You are so racist v italians it’s insane… stop watching serie a if you have an innate bias against all italians. It’s incredibly strange you do this to yourself and watch an Italian league when you hate the people. I hope you’re OK and get help soon because it’s very weird behavior.
I agree..i am not sure why we are so against Italians. An Italian team and we are basically offloading every one of them
Ok. 😂. Nothing against Italians, my wife is Italian and her entire family lives in Italy. I just hate how they are overrated on this site and can never do any wrong. I can be objective about it because I’m not Italian, you clearly cannot. Im a Milan fan, period. I don’t care whether the players are Italian or not.
Sportiello slots into the Italian/association grown places in the lists, so if he isn‘t worse it is already a gain. Tata took a normal spot, for that he was a bit very meh.
I didn’t watch the first half can someone give us a honest report on how Colombo faired cus from Giroud’s play today it was a repeat of last season, we need a new attacking presence. Romero looked good I must say. Messias shouldn’t have travelled with this team, CDK should be loaned out to get more experience staying in this team does him no good I don’t know if it’s the language barrier or something but he seems to not be in it.
We need that extra LB, RB and Musa to complete this team. Pioli game management is still poor I hope he doesn’t be the one to hold us back this season. Adli was good on the ball today I hope he gets his chances. Forza Milan
Poor Game management was the deciding factor here. When you lead 2-0 against real Madrid and see them bringing on vinicius and rodrygo, you don’t just fold your arms. Pioli needs to do much better. Another coach would have won this Madrid team with more goals
Good god are you stupid. It was a preseason friendly. Nobody cares if you win or lose. They have a plan going in as to when to make changes and barring injury stick with it.
These games are for trying tactics, acclimatizing the new players to their teammates, and getting some time in everyone’s legs. NOT about winning.
Colombo open up a lot of space. First goal he attack near post in the corner kick, free up the space in the middle for Tomori. And Second goal, again attack the near post to receive Pobega low cross creating chaos that eventually force Madrid to make a bad clearance and Luka score a screamer.
Speaking of screamer, early on the first half he also almost scored with one. It was half volley from just outside the left penalty box.
He and Luka is always pressing Madrid defence.
I hope we keep him and Romero is complementary to Diaz he should remain with the team. Thanks for the info
Second goal was more mistake from Keunic than Tomori, he literally watched Valverde instead step for the ball, if he just moved one step forward he will take the ball.
Tomori made lazy pass straight to Valverde, but somehow it’s Krunic fault.
Krunic must also be at fault for the first goal. If he hurried up and ran behind Sportiello, he could have clear the ball from the goal line after it went through Sportiello’s hands.
LOL and nobody gave him a credit for our second goal. Such a bias every time we talk about Krunic here.
Yes if you take a good look again Rade was one that asked ball on the part field where he should not and when he got the ball he just looked and wait. He was closer to ball then Valverde and one step he should take and take ball.
1st half we were driven, energetic
Pulisic decent but can go further
Colombo too. Needs a little more belief
Luka full of energy, now I wish he had belief in himself to the beat his man one-on-one
Simic – where did this baller come from??? Good performance!
Pobega needs to own his game more.
2nd half lost our system and confidence
Reijnders – class
Leao super as usual
Adli actually looked good!
CDK – wtf?! for what purpose was his presence? he is so lost i tell you
Bottomline- Team needs ZLATAN to kick their ass and make them fierce and believe in themselves against Real Madrid!!!!!!!!!
Adli
I agree Reijnders looked a little timid, hence I believe RLC did better, however Reijnders did better than CDK. Furthermore I don’t think Reijnders should take anymore corners. CDK looked more or less the same, although I saw him make a good tackle (also seen that one good tackle before) and this was by far not his worst encounter. This article fails to mention Leao’s cross for Giroud that was an almost certain goal. Leao picked off where we left last season. Leao certain deserved a 6.5, although he had nothing to show for on paper. That howler and that intercepted (very dangerous) pass by Tomori were completely avoidable. Their one goal through an excellent pass by Modric and the speed of Vini could have been cut out had Kjaer been up to speed and attentive enough, he only needs to get in front and instigate some kind of 50/50 free kick. You could equally argue that Tomori’s goal on the corner was due to woeful marking, but what a wicked corner by Pulisic (that’s how to hit them). I would really like to see Pulisic on the right (or in the middle) to see if he can replicate some of the good play he had out left. I’m also very much looking forward to seeing Okafor and also hopefully Chukwueze! I’m glad we’ve got Kalulu for the RB instead of Saelemaekers who clearly belongs further up field. Well done Florenzi on the left, but if anything we need a backup LB and perhaps another midfielder (Musah)
All the Belgians we’ve signed are trash, Saladmaker, Origi, and CDK. Get them out. Maybe by some miracle trade all three for Carrascao or DeBruyne’s game worn boots.
Saelemaekers is not trash. He may not be the best at his position, but he has contributed a lot to this team. We won a scudetto with him in the squad. He has scored necessary CL goals. I think Saelemakers has been a very good signing and he always has the will to fight. CDK has the quality but he needs confidence. He had a very good start last season but then they took it away from him instead of supporting him. Pioli has not managed CDK well. Origi was a mistake but he did score one of the most beautiful goals last season and we probably can sell him so no loss there.
These guys haven’t played together for even 3 weeks, and it’s pre season. Let’s see how they get the rhythm as they progress. To me it was quite decent and the season looks more promising to win the scudetto. Forza Milan❤🖤
I kindly and humbly challenge everybody to check out for ” GUGA GOMES” who plays for Fluminese. He’s another Danny Alves, let’s bring him rather than Singo to deputize Calabria. Someone to take this report to Fularni please.
Maybe the author or acm management staff member of this site can deliver the message to BOD in head office
He is another non EU player so we cant sign him if we sign Chukwueze.
CDK, Sealmakers., origi, idiots
Krunic just stood there like a Traffic Cone waiting for that ball to slooowly roll to him, the pass from Tomori that Valverde intercepted for his score. Tomori should not have made that pass to the middle of the field, but Krunic did not respond at all, he just stood there. Both of them were at fault, but I thought Krunic looked more stupid and useless standing there doing nothing, than Tomori did in making that bad pass.
Kjaer looked useless, getting muscled off that ball in that run and score by Vinicius. Needs to be replaced on this team.
Pobega, in his run downfield, got muscled off the ball – too slow and too weak. Ugh. I’ve seen Musah make that same run countless times for the USMNT, and I’ll tell you this – he’s a lot faster, and he … does … NOT … get muscled off the ball … ever. That’s why Milan need to get Musah. He’s way better than Pobega.
It was interesting to see Pulisic take that corner kick. He really got sooooo few opportunities at Chelsea and rarely if ever was the one taking corner kicks at Chelsea. Mason Mount was the Golden Child at Chelsea for the longest time, and was given corner kick duties the most often amongst the Chelsea players even though his corners sucked and would just fly all over the place.
Pulisic frequently takes corners for the USMNT, and is very good, hits them very accurately, just like this one to Tomori. There was just this terrible problem at Chelsea where the coaches there never gave him the opportunity to show what he could do.
Bro that’s a bad pass from Timori. That was less on Krunic than on Timori
Sportiello you cow 🐄…
As I said before, Pulisic has different class. Only few weeks with us and he certainly blends in extremely well with our plays. Curious to see him positioned in the right and middle (where he should be given more freedom to go on both flanks). As the left wing will certainly be filled with our new no. 10 there. Hope he’ll stay fit and healthy.
And to see RLC and even Romero showed more than CdK ever done whole season while they’re only here for a short time only shows that CdK is really not well suited for this current Milan’s playing style.
Yes, it’s too early to start criticizing these players. They’ll need some time to get back in shape…. What’s most important for me is the players should avoid injuries as this is just preseason friendlies….❤️🖤
No shame in losing preseason to Madrid. I’m going to stay positive from what
What I saw*
I couldn’t watch the 2nd half but what I saw is that Messias can’t score long range goals that counter attack 2vs3 was wasted. We actually defended very well in the 1st half no panic in the box whatsoever. Pobega is very slow for this milan team which requires a player to think where he would pass the ball way before he even receives the ball. But that is based on what I saw in the 1st half.
I’m also disappointed to read that CDK was more-or-less the same since joining us. But hope is not lost, we as milan are patient club (fans included) if we waited for so long for this entertaining milan we’ll definitely wait for him to crawl out of his shell.
With all that being said it was a pre season nothing major and on the good side milan are promising come 21th August. ⭐️⭐️ quest continues. Forza Milan
This is good match. And we can see that, Milan is better than last season.
But still more improvement in game, and that’s why we need Chuk asap, because when we win the ball and counter attack, there is no fast player like Leao and Theo.
Hope Chuk, and Musah will be our right wing fast player, so our counter attack more “killing”
Simic that small boy is going to be something I’m sure he reminds me t,silva
Romero had a good game and will be a great super sub. More like what rebic was before his dip in form.
CDK is not a midfielder. Pioli needs to train him as a CF. His more of a crouch or hunterlar type player. Too clumsy in the middle.
Pobega will get run over in the midfield. Need faster and more dynamic players.
Tomori is the same hit and miss player. We might need a better CB to weather the season.
We’ve changed so many players this summer I understand the management not tinkering much with the defence.
Tomori is good but can be a little erratic. I reckon he’ll be the big money transfer “sacrificed” to reinvest in the squad in summer 2024. Probably one of the reasons we’re looking at this Uruguyan youngster from Valencia. If we do replace Fik (who I’d expect to receive 50mn+ from PL or even Saudi sides) hopefully we bring in a true left sided CB.
Overall this friendly I thought we showed some promising signs. It’s pre season but some of us feared we’d be embarrassed by mighty Real, and it was far from that! We did well, they punished our mistakes.
Forza Milan
Based on this game, I think we could abandoned Chuk. Pulisic – Okafor – Luka can play on the right. We need a great central defender Tomori although scores get shaky in his post and Kjaer age shown. And backup LB, cannot depends on Florenzi. Also main striker. Let’s hijack Balogun deal from inter. Revenge on Thuram.
I agree – Hijack Balogun – Looks like Arsenal may let him leave on a loan/commitment to buy deal and we can afford that…and stuff Inter at the same time.
looks like we do need CB cover after all, and we are shipping Gabbia off to spain ?? Tomori has a mistake in him and Kjaer, love him but he is ready for the care home.
Scalvini is a must, forget the fella from Valencia, not necessary. Scalvini is young, promising, already has experience of serie A and is a much needed Italian.
Colombo looking good as well, please don’t ship him off like gabbia.
Yes we need CB but still its not Gabbia, he is the weakest of all 5 CB we have now… Thats why we need to offload him to have space for new CB…
Real’s first two goals were Sportiello’s fault. On the 2nd goal he was unsure with the ball, made a silly short pass at the edge of the box which led to the give-away.
Pogeba has heavy feet. slow. Adli will surpass him easily if given a chance.
also, Our players constantly lost their footing and slipped.
Junior injured can make him out from transfer list. This will be bad , i hope he recover fast . So far in preseason luka romero look like promising, he can take CDK place
Thiaw, Kjaer, CdK , Giroud etc didn’t play enough + it’s preseason but the witch hunt and hate on CdK is ofc continuing .
Such ,,fans” we have here… instead of supporting everyone , especially young talents like CdK who needs it, he gets hate just for kicking the ball.
SHAME ON YOU!
The hurtful truth is, that not even Inter fans or Juve fans are like this..
Inter has Correa who looks like a flop but this isn’t happening there.
Simply shameful behaviour
Seemed like a really positive performance.
Pulisic has been great since he arrived. He is the exact sort of player we needed so I am really happy we signed him.
The others did well too. They all tick the right boxes in terms of their positions and characteristics. Another key is having a team that compliments each other and these new players do do that.
We’ll see. You can’t tell anything from pre-season. Many players won’t be there at the start of the season or will be crowded out.
Pulisic was close to invisible except for the assist. A 5,5 is generous.
Anytime I see ratings they’re a head scratcher. It’s like defenders defend, anything else is a bonus not the other way around
Anyways in general I thought the team was energetic and they’re trying to figure.out the 433 and 4213 version of the 433 (second half) movements.
I’d say Timori yea was at fault for the goal but also washed it by scoring himself. Sport should have done better even if the ball took an awkward bounce. Body should hv covered the trajectory. Krunic was a beast…gets 6 lol. He’s def starting whether its pivot or deep lying in 433. His reading of the game is simply incredible and he also bails out his teammates. Timori also bailed out Simic on a couple of occasions. Simic is a bit small imo though he seems to head okay. I’d say if Gabbia is going, it wouldn’t hurt to have him as 5th choice. Romero did decently well as he can track back too. He’ll be a good sub. Florenzi imo did well as a back up LB. Don’t see the need to get one. And there was nothing Kjaer could do with Vinis pace but perhaps clear sooner. CDK seemed to be a bit livelier but had confidence problems still it seems. Colombo could be a good sub but he needs to up his pace to give defenders something to think about. Loftus I found did well but isn’t yet clicking with the team. But he does porgress carry well. And Pulisic I’ve been impressed with so far, let’s hope he remains injury free.
This was a decent Real team and we did well. Fitness levels look decent for the first game so not too bad I’d say