AC Milan were held to a draw by Newcastle United in their first Champions League group stage game, but it is hard to be too critical after such a dominant performance.
This morning’s edition of Tuttosport (via MilanNews) has their player ratings from the game, starting with Fikayo Tomori who returned to the centre of defence after his suspension and earned a 7 out of 10.
On the other end of the spectrum was Olivier Giroud, who appeared to lack the sharpness needed for such an intense game. He got given a 5, as did Rafael Leao who wasted a big opportunity to put his team a goal up in the first half.
Among those also praised were Theo Hernandez, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Tommaso Pobega, Rade Krunic and Malick Thiaw, who were all given a 6.5 out of 10.
The same rating went to Stefano Pioli too, as Milan created a lot and conceded little in terms of chances. The victory didn’t come, but the team have already moved on from the derby.
Idk what Giroud could have done. He was completely cut of from the midfield, no balls came his way and he had to cover Leaos lazy pressing.
It sad to see that a 36yo gives more in pressing than the 24yo.
Tomori finally had a game where he didnt blunder in a big way.. Keep it up brah
Giroud had a clear header on goal with his defender out of position so he wouldn’t have been able to challenge him. Instead he opted for an overhead bicycle kick 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
i dont remember that one
The overhead kick he was trying far post??? I’ll try to give u a timestamp when I rewatch
36-37 mins. Defender committed too early and tried to put him off. All he had to do was maintain his own ground and head the ball in
Pretty decent rating except Giroud probably deserves a 5.5 and Pobega only a 6, maybe also 5.5
It’s interesting how most outlets adjudged Giroud and Leao to be worst of the lot (and I agree) even though we created so many chances. I believe it’s the absolute monumental wastefulness from them that did them in. Clear tap in and overhead kick from Giroud and overdribbling by Leao were probably the main reasons. It’s so frustrating seeing good chances go to waste
I agree thats the reason why we didnt win and even with a margin.
At the end of group stage, we will cry for that Leao circus shot that kept us from golden 2 points
Not winning against newcastle in san siro, seems europa league is waiting
I thought Giroud did quite well ,apart from scoring.
Rafeol leao held onto the ball to much ,and at times tried to over elaborate..He should have scored an easy goal ,.but tried a back heel flip ..He lost the ball too many times in the game ,,that said of course he is a good player ,as is Olivier …I don’t agree with what many of you are saying …indicating that we should drop Olivier and leao against Verona ,,,that could be a dangerous thing to do ,,,as this is a match that we should win by a 3 or 4 goal margin ..
Coming back to our performance against Newcastle.
We should have won this match by 2 goals to nil .
What we didn’t do is pass the simple ball and instead tried to many shots from range …any how still a good performance but not a good result as we gained 1 point , but lost 2 ….Tomori was superb and the Newcastle atttackers could not get past him ,and the timing of his tackles superb…Another who impressed when he came of the bench was Musah ,,,looked lively and sharp and put in some decent crosses..He must also start the match against Verona ..
We will still challenge for the scuddeto this season and I believe will win the next three matches in the League…
So it’s early days and we will start racking in the goals , starting against Verona .
I have complete confidence in our manager pioli and our team …good results too follow .
It’s AC Milan for me!