AC Milan passed their first big challenge of the season as they beat AS Roma 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico to make it three wins from three to start the season.
The first goal came via the penalty spot when Ruben Loftus-Cheek was brought down by Rui Patricio, and Olivier Giroud confidently converted the spot kick to make it 1-0 and four goals in three games for him.
Early in the second half that advantage was doubled, with Davide Calabria winding up a cross from the right side that went all the way through to Rafael Leao, who acrobatically finished with a hooked effort that went in off the far post.
Fikayo Tomori’s red card for a second yellow threatened to make things interesting in the final stages, as did Leonardo Spinazzola’s deflected shot, but Milan held on to make it nine points out of nine heading into the international break and most importantly the derby.
Stefano Pioli opted to stay loyal to the same team that had won the opening two games of the season, with Rade Krunic at the base of the midfield, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders either side, and a front three of Christian Pulisic, Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao.
After just seven minutes, Milan were awarded a penalty kick as a result of what was virtually their first attack of the game. Ruben Loftus-Cheek went on a barrelling run that saw him one-on-one with Patricio, who took him out with his studs.
A VAR review saw Rapuano point to the spot, and Giroud took on the responsibility, firing home his third penalty of the season to make it four goals for the Frenchman.
Milan continued to enjoy the better of the opening exchanges, and in the 14th minute the first Rafael Leao sprint of the game took him to the byline where he provided a perfect cut-back to Tijjani Reijnders again. However, the Dutchman saw his first-time effort blocked well.
Patricio was being tested often, and in the 21st minute an excellent cross from the left flank went all the way to the far post where Christian Pulisic was waiting. His volley was struck well, but the Portuguese goalkeeper made a smart reaction stop.
The main danger continued to come from the team in all white, and Leao was the creator when just after the half-hour mark he was put in behind the defence down the right side, cutting back onto his left foot and then again onto his right, though his dinked cross was just about cut out.
Two minutes before the break, Milan showed what they can do on the counter-attack when Theo Hernandez went on an absolute surge down the left flank, beating two men before seeing his pull-back scrambled away for a corner.
It took less than three minutes of the second half for Milan to double their lead, and it was a quite simply wonderful goal from Leao.
A cross from Davide Calabria on the right drifted into a dangerous area at the back post, where Leao was on hand to somehow hook a shot in off the far post after beating Celik to the ball.
Four minutes before the break, Milan were again knocking on the door as a dangerous cross from a wide area once again was nearly primed for Giroud to fire in but Reijnders got in the way and Patricio claimed.
Just after the hour mark, Milan went down to 10 men. Tomori had been booked earlier in the game for a poorly timed challenge, and when a ball was fed into the feet of Belotti he rolled off the Englishman and was cut down, leaving the referee with little choice despite the protests.
A change came not long after the red card as Loftus-Cheek was withdrawn for Pierre Kalulu, and not too long after Tommaso Pobega came on to bolster the midfield with Giroud making way.
Leao went on another one of his menacing runs moments after Roma had brought Lukaku on, but he was well crowded out inside the box as he looked to shoot on his right foot.
With 15 minutes left on the clock Pioli made two positive changes by bringing Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze on for Pulisic and Leao.
Given the scoreline and the fact that Milan were down to 10 men, the pressure rather predictably started coming from the home side, who seemed intent on whipped crosses to try and catch out any moment of inattention.
Roma did finally get the goal that had potentially been coming but it came via a cruel deflection. Spinazzola let fly from just outside the box and it hit a body on the way through which wrong-footed Maigna just enough to send the ball in.
In the end that would be the last bit of danger, as Milan hung on for the three points that sends them top of the league for the time being.
Lets See how Kalulu and Thiaw work against Inter. Maybe they Play more Games together
Davide Calabria and Tomori 👎
Well, there are those who call Tomori a ‘Headless Chicken’ for his (unfair) expulsion. Well, in my view the only and true ‘headless chicken’ are the hopeless doom & gloom crew clowns, always with their pathetic apocalyptic catastrophe prophecies.
Well, in the REAL world the team controlled the game very well after the expulsion, conceding a goal only in the stoppages and not actually having the result threatened at any time. In fact, one more solid, even very good performance of Milan, with an obvious highlight for the midfield and individually speaking to Rafa.
You were the first to call him a headless chicken here. Congratulations. People will carry on your legacy.
Seemed pretty headless 2 me. He allowed beloti to bait him again and again and again and it ended up in double yellow..
On the bright side, at least there is 0% he’ll fock up against Inter
Are you for real? Is that all you can do is constantly repeat the same thing over and over again “doom and gloom”??? Nobody knows what that means. Lol.
As for game great performance. We dominated of course until that red card. It was a cheap call against Tomori but one that he still needs to be careful making. Great display from our mids who controlled everything and spectacular goal from Leao. Well done boys
Pioli almost messed up the subs with Pobega, I was thinking more of Musa to add more steal to the marking. Glad we got the win
Tomori is becoming unreliable. Calabria is still a joke. I wonder what he’ll do against Mbappe lol. Overall great game from midfield and attack.
A joke? Dude, Calabria played solid for 97 minutes and was the one who deliver that assist for Leao. The second goal was unlucky where the ball bounce from Kalulu who tried to block it.
Close body marking from Calabria would be nice.
Should have subbed tomori at half time.
It was evident to everyone but pioli and tomori he gonna get another yellow.
Leao masterpiece was sexy af
Great job by Pioli and the boys.
I think Tomori doesn’t deserve the 2nd yellow. But at least we still have solid CB’s against Inter.
Fully agree, ForzaMilan.
The first yellow was uncalled for.
The second yellow was worth it but, not the first.
He was having a better game than Thiaw before the unfortunate incident happened
Ah, no he wasn’t, thiaw was heads and shoulders over . Watch the game again pls
Ok, i think both of us agreed that Tomori only deserves one yellow card.
100% Forza Milan
So much work for Thiaw to do today, he should 100% be the MOTM. RLC, Krunic and Leao were good too. Okafor and Chuk did a good job in their short cameo. Now thanks to Tomori we are already at a disadvantage against Inter. So who will partner with Thiaw against Inter? Will it be Pollegrino/Kalulu or Kjaer.
Thiaw is turning into a monster before our eyes
Agree, consistency, grit, mtch up against Big Rom, he passed with flying marks
True
Sorry but Chuk was not good. He did absolutely nothing. He lost the bast and fumbled multiple times. He looked very nervous. I think he needs some confidence before he can give anything to this team. He feels like this summers CDK. Much money but nothing to show for it. I understand why Pulisic gets to play every game cause he is the real deal.
I think RLC was among the best today also. And I just love Leao. He is unique!
Maybe I missed something there. I think he looked decent in the extra time with that 1 block, guess I was focused on other things more haha. RLC is starting to look really comfortable playing with Reijnders and Krunic. I will say this man, Leao can actually win the Balon D’Or if he is consistent like this. He is such a great player. Theo is also back to his form.
Time… He didn’t get to play much with the team in preseason, didn’t travel to USA… Time
Rome never really threatened an upset, anyone who claims the opposite simply did not see the game.
Such a stupid move to not put Tomori on the bench after the first half. Everyone could feel that the ref had lost the game in the first half and that Tomori lost his temper multiple times. I’m very happy it worked out. Roma wasn’t good at all and didn’t deserve any points. Lukaku can prove important for them rest of the season though. He is very hard to get a hold of.
Chil guys, 9 point 8-2 GA team looked in control, look at the subs we are able to put in.
Inter next and its looking very very good for us.
Flow iof the game is also really good, it looks somewhat like second part of the season before we won serie A and the season we did
For some of you, enough with complains, or find another club to support, i am sick of seeing your oathetic comments
Another bs penalty. I wonder if Gerry paid off the refs. That’s 2 games in a row. But 3 out of 3 is a great start, hope to continue!!
How was that not a pen? Same with the other 2 in the Torino game. It was an obvious pen mate, did you not see the VAR Replay.
I doubt zoro watch the match and even if he did he clearly have problems with his eyes.
What??????? That was stonewall penalty, the GK should have been yellow carded too.
“For some of you, enough with complains, or find another club to support, i am sick of seeing your oathetic comments”
AMEN!!!
WtF that MF Tomori is doing to us from the last season ,the friendlies games ,till the start of the season !!! every he’s doing is wrong, a lots of wrong tacles on the wrong zones on the wrong time!! WTF are you doing !!! are you playing with the opponent!!! and besides on that our MF coach didn’t noticed nothing !! WTF are doing U and ur stuff on the video sessions !!!
Damn, our beloved milan is so exciting goimg forward. Electrifying. They all fight hard to recoup the ball. Great to watch. Thiaw is a beast in defense, tall, cool head, decent pace. Tomorri and calabria are the only one that look shaky out there. However, they’ve had good seasons in the past maybe this great harmony within the group can bring them back at their best level. Forzza milan.
Simic! Just have a faith in the guy who completely declassified Vinisius.
Nice try ref but no, 1 red card can’t stop Milan from winning. 3/3 with a great performance (until 60). We had the chances to score more than 2 goals. After the red card players did their best to control the game. A lucky goal from Spinazzola wasn’t enough to bring a really bad Roma back to the game. Chuckwueze is not as ready as Okafor is. Maybe same goes with Musah too, that’s why he didn’t play and Pioli choose Pobega over him. Next game with Inter and I’m wondering who’s gonna be Thiaw partner.
Maybe the focus on searching a right back asould have had a bigger priority. Everytime players goes at Calabria feels like he is out of his depth. He looks like Trent alexander Arnold when he is defending
Not saying I told you so… And this game not withstanding, should have been Tomori instead of Tonali used as balance weight for the mercato
Pioli is a genius the sub was perfect taking of giroud to balance the midfield. Yet we say pioli is not good
Not sure why this is not going through..sorry for the repost
I thought Pioli would have subbed early second half for Tomori because the way the ref was calling the game, he didn’t seem to have control of the game itself. Tomori got bal.l on his first yellow. That shouldn’t hv been a card. But also if you’re already on a yellow..
Pioli game management after the card was poor. Sending air bal.ls to a short Chuk wasn’t a good idea. Plus taking off the more physical RLC instead of Puli? Come on Pioli.
Either bring on Musah and Chuk OR Okafor, not both. Okafor held up the bal well, Chuk didn’t do much defensively. The whole right side was the issue when RLC went off and that’s where the sub came from. Chuk provided no cover on the goal.
Otherwise we totally dominated until that red card. Shame really as we could have ended the game 3 or 4 zip easily. The attack is great, that defending though is a concern but as I say as long as the attack give us the points.
It’s Always difficult Playing with a man down. Red cards are part of the game and must be avoided but expeced. But managing red card situations isn’t one of Pioli’s strengths I’ve noticed . I think it should be part of the evolution of this team , where the team can play through red card situations well enough to not loose a lead, or even indeed come back from a losing situation
True that! I’d like us to be able to play the ugly game too. It’s good against these types of teams
Did you forgot that RLC already got yellow? That’s the reason Pioli took him out and sub with Pobega who can plays physical too. Beside, there’s still Krunic who can plays dirty.
Ah, right. I missed that part. Forgot the yellow for RLC. But Pobega and Musah? Okafor is starting to come into his own too
If we’re going to be honest, Roma wouldn’t be too much of a challenge if it wasn’t for the red card! R.L.C. player of the match. I’m waiting for the next round to make a final verdict..
Wether or not Tomori deserved a first or a second card is irrelevant. An experienced defender knows that if you’re playing on a yellow, you can’t put yourself into positions where you make the ref decide your fate. Don’t make the challenges you would if you didn’t have a yellow. Basic defending 101. Get a yellow, play mellow. Don’t put the decision in ref’s hands.