AC Milan scored four goals and won their Europa League last 16 first leg against Slavia Praha, and yet when they left the field there was a mixed feeling.
Slavia Praha went down to ten men inside the opening 30 minutes and Olivier Giroud opened the scoring, but the visitors equalised after less than two minutes.
Tijjani Reijnders and Ruben Loftus-Cheek made it 3-1 going into the break but the Czech side hit back again, before Christian Pulisic added a fourth late on to cap an entertaining but dramatic night.
This morning’s edition of Tuttosport (seen below) has their ratings from the game, starting with Mike Maignan in goal who got a 5.5 out of 10 as they believe he could have done better with the opening goal.
Alessandro Florenzi got a 6.5 for the two assists he provided, while the centre-back pairing of Simon Kjaer and Matteo Gabbia each received a score of 6. Theo Hernandez at left-back got a 5.5, as it wasn’t one of his better nights.
Yacine Adli was awarded a 6 while his double pivot partner Tijjani Reijnders – who scored the goal to make it 2-1 in the first half – got half a point more. Christian Pulisic (7) and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (6.5) also both scored and impressed, while Rafael Leao (7) provided two assists.
Olivier Giroud was given a 6 to round off the starting line-up, as was head coach Stefano Pioli, while the subs were as follows: Davide Calabria 6, Fikayo Tomori 6, Ismael Bennacer 6, Luka Jovic 6.5.
I think a 5.5. for Theo is generous, he slacked more than once in defense. Outside of the goal, he had two big errors in the first half alone.
It’s telling if the player that should be the best of the defense ends up being the worst, and we want to sell him for 100 mill.
Kjaer vote also is generous, had good moments but also had screw ups in the second half, especially considering that Slavia was playing with 10 man and barely attacking. One he mishit a clearance inside the penalty area and Slavia almost scored 3-3. The other was a very bad pass that forced Calabria to make foul and get a yellow.
Calabria was also so so, offensively his contribution was very small.