AC Milan’s slim European hopes were finally crushed on Sunday night as they lost 3-1 against top-four hopefuls Roma at the Stadio Olimpico.
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It was a case of ‘Fatal Roma’ for Milan as they lost twice in the capital inside five days to complete a miserable end to what has been a disastrous campaign. The first defeat was the Coppa Italia final, and the most recent hammer blow came in Claudio Ranieri’s final home game as Roma boss.
It took Roma just a few minutes to take the lead and it was Gianluca Mancini who got it. He then drew an elbow from Santiago Gimenez as the Rossoneri went down to 10 men, but they equalised through Joao Felix.
Leandro Paredes and Bryan Cristante each scored with shots from outside the box to ensure that the hosts took the three points. The defeat means that Milan will be without European football for the 2025-26 season, and Sergio Conceicao being sent off late on was symbolic of a dire campaign.
Conceicao made four changes to the starting line-up from the side that lost to Bologna in the Coppa Italia final. Below is Rohit Rajeev’s tactical analysis from the game.
Pressing and build-up
Reijnders inverted as Milan’s third centre-back, allowing Tomori to push up as a full-back, increasing Milan’s options in the wide areas to try and stretch Roma’s central press.
Roma used a 3-1-4-2 to press, and it was this structure that led to the corner for the first goal. Saelemaekers and Shomurodov pressed Reijnders using their cover shadows, which meant Reijnders didn’t have options to pass.
Meanwhile, Paredes stayed back trying to mark João Félix, who floated inside. One option to pass was Pavlovic. When the ball was played to him, Soule jumped forward to mark Jimenez while Paredes closed down space for Felix, and Cristante came inside to cause an overload, leading Milan to lose the ball and to concede the corner.
The in-swinging corner caused chaos in the box, and N’Dicka was unmarked, distracting Tomori, whose actual marking assignment was Mancini met the ball.
Milan played a 3-4-3 off the ball, albeit a very disorganised press, with too much space between players, making it very easy for Roma to move the ball.
Forced change in approach
When Milan lost Gimenez to a red card, it meant that Roma were able to build up easily in a 3v1 situation. And to not give space, Conceicao was forced to pull his team back and play a more defensive game.
With no striker to mark, it meant the Roma defenders were a bit switched off, missing Jimenez’s inward run to receive Pulisic’s ball. Felix, meanwhile, had continued his run while Roma’s midfielders had switched off.
Attempts to counter
Conceicao brought in the changes, and the formation then shifted to a 4-4-1, but Milan still kept playing deeper, trying to use Leao as a weapon to counter-attack.
With Musah beating the press and finding Fofana free, a Roma defender goes to stop him, and this creates a gap between the defenders, which allows Fofana to slide a through ball. However, Leao’s shot was saved by the keeper.
In a sequence just before the third goal we can see how open Milan are, as Roma outnumber them 4v2 in the wide areas as Rossoneri players got sucked into pressing.
