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AC Milan 2-1 PSG: Five things we learned – incredible transformation from reverse fixture

By Ivan Stoev -

After handing Udinese their first league win of the season on Saturday it was vital that AC Milan produced a response, and we saw a completely different side in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain.

Stefano Pioli was able to get Christian Pulisic, Theo Hernandez and Ruben Loftus-Cheek back into the starting line-up after their respective recoveries from injury, which was a big boost following a few weeks with plenty of injuries.

The Rossoneri kept it tight this time, unlike the reverse game in the French capita, but they did concede first again after a corner kick which Milan Skriniar tapped in after Marquinhos’ flick-on.

Milan showed their character this time and reacted quickly as it only took two minutes for Rafael Leao to score an equaliser with a bicycle kick from close range after Olivier Giroud’s shot was saved.

They got ahead in the 50th minute through Giroud, after a lovely cross by Theo and an even better header by his compatriot. They would see out the lead with a resolute defensive effort to reopen the possibility of reaching the knockout stages.

Below are five things we learned from the stellar performance against PSG…

1. Leading the way

Rafael Leao won the Man of the Match award from UEFA and rightfully so, the Portuguese couldn’t have found a better game to step it up a notch.

It was pitted as another chance to compare himself with Kylian Mbappe who is probably the world’s best. Leao scored the equaliser for his side and was a constant threat going forward creating plenty of chances for his teammates and causing a lot of trouble for his opponents.

Despite the fantastic performance in attack, Leao was also very lively at the back helping at crucial moments and really putting in the effort needed to help his side win the game.

It was a world-class performance by a player that has been heavily criticised as of late. Leao said after the game that he does his talking on the pitch, and what better way to speak than that?

2. Defensive metamorphosis 

After weeks of defensive instability, Milan finally looked solid at the back and against a tough opposition as well. Malick Thiaw and Fikayo Tomori held the line well whilst Theo and Davide Calabria had a lot of work to do on the flanks but did well against Dembele and Mbappe, respectively.

It’s fair to mention that Pulisic and Leao also helped a lot as did the whole midfield, meaning that it really was a team effort to limit how much the visitors were able to create favourable situations as they did in the 3-0 game in Paris.

Calabria in particular was fantastic as he had the tough job of keeping Mbappe at bay and for the better part of the game he did that really well allowing the Frenchman a bit more space just on a couple of occasions.

The captain has really stepped up in recent weeks showing leadership and passion that has to be recognised.

3. A tank in the middle

Loftus-Cheek missed a month due to an injury and therefore had to watch the games with Borussia Dortmund and PSG from the sidelines. He was finally back in the starting XI, and he certainly showed what the team have been missing.

He was partly at fault on the opening goal as Skriniar was left unmarked but that only seemed to spark him into life as he was a complete tank afterwards.

The former Chelsea man carried the ball forward on multiple occasions showcasing his great physical strength as the only way players were taking the ball off him was with a foul, otherwise they just bounced off him.

Loftus-Cheek also won 10 duels and was vital in that three-man midfield, which happened to look very very good with Tijjani Reijnders in the middle and Yunus Musah on the left. Judging by what we saw, these three have to be the starting midfield in every big game.

4. RLC  not the only one 

Reijnders started off the season in a positive manner before his performances dropped drastically in terms of quality, but against PSG and with a lot more quality and energy around him he played a very good game.

The Dutchman had a lot of good moments on the ball showing great ball control and quick feet to exploit the empty space and then provide the pass. It’s the kind of game-unlocking ability that he promised upon arriving from AZ Alkmaar.

He did struggle a bit defensively, but it must be remembered that he isn’t really a defensive midfielder by his own admission and some difficulties against such a talented possession-based side were to be expected.

Musah also played his part and after an early miss, he contributed a lot in both phases of the game but especially in defence where he ran tirelessly helping his team neutralise PSG’s attack.

5. Vintage, again

Olivier Giroud started off the season well, even if a lot of his goals came from penalties, but his overall game was positive too as he linked up well with former Chelsea team-mate Christian Pulisic.

After the positive beginning, the 37-year-old struggled both with finding the net (though he didn’t always get good service) and with getting involved in the game in general.

However, the Frenchman picked up a brace against Napoli and managed to score an impressive header against PSG to help his side win the game, showing that he still warrants that starting spot on the big nights.

It is unfortunate that Milan had injury issues and was forced to play more than he probably should have, and in addition to that Jovic hasn’t really impressed when given the chance either with Pioli hesitant to give him more minutes.

Thus, Giroud has been forced to work overtime again, though he rose to the challenge almost as well as he rose to posterise Skriniar for the winner.

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Tags AC Milan Milan PSG

20 Comments

  2. I guess we also learned that maybe a low block, counterattacking style of football is more suited for us, especially against big teams.
    That high block, high pressing stuff isn’t really well suited for our players and our coach.

    1. thats not really how i percieve yesterdays match we played against them as we kept a high pressure throughout the match and even took some risks by playing in that manner.

      1. In the second half, we were really low, especially after the goal, and that’s how we managed to keep Mbappe in check.
        In the first half, we were higher and conceded more attacks.
        That’s how I saw it anyways.

        1. towards the end sure but overall we put them under great pressure throughout the match whiile their ball carriers had to work their socks off. When that is said what do you expect psgs squad is propably worth the double of ours we were underdogs even though we played at home.

          1. You can actually press in a low bloc setup. A definition of the lowblock is actually:
            “It simply means you prefer not to press the opposition into their own half. It is like setting a line in the sand stating “This is where we engage the players when they reach this point”. For some teams this could be the halfway line and others 20 yards further or back.”
            In other words, you give way possession (which we did), you try to win back the ball deeper (which we also did at times), and try to counter (which suits fast players like Theo, Leao, Pulisic and give them options)

    2. Pioli needs to learn that sometimes we need to be comfortable giving up possession. Only then can we be an effective team. I remember the days of Kaka and company, we literally gave the other team the ball sometimes and tell them here let’s see what you’re going to do with it and in the process we were safe in our defensive strength and knew we had a killer counter attack. We fell back when needed in order to create space eventually. That’s sort of what’s missing currently. We should be ok to give up possession against smaller teams

      1. Yep agree. Thats what simone inzaghi do when facing ACM . He order his player give ball possesion to ACM and later do counter atack . ACM can only do high press if opponent have the ball . Sometimes it is better play low block defense to win match

    3. It was a great win but the enthusiasm should be tampered.
      This was more of a isolated incident than Milan turning the corner or figuring something out.
      Milan went into the game as an underdog, set up as an underdog and played as an underdog by sitting back and hitting PSG on the counter attack. Outside of solo runs by RLC, Leao and Theo that started deep into Milan’s half Milan didn’t do anything going forward as a team offensively. 3 players who just outrun and outmuscle PSG players during their solo runs. As a team Milan didn’t create any other chances.
      You can play that way when you are the inferior team, but in Serie A, outside of vs Inter and Napoli, Milan can’t sit back and play this style of football against any other team because the rest of the teams including Juventus are defensive teams who just sit back and allow you to dominate possession. And when Milan has possession that’s where the limitations of the coach are shown time after time. Be that with Hakan, Kessie and Bennacer; or Tonali, Bennacer and Krunic, or nowadays Reijnders, RLC and Musah/Krunic/Adli, the same problems with stale and unimaginative midfield still exist.
      The only common denominator in all those different sets of midfield players is the coach.
      We will never know how good Reijnders, Musah, RLC or even Adli can be until another coach has the opportunity to set up a team based on their characteristics. This coach relies solely on individual runs by the wingers or the fullbacks.
      Competent coach implements system based on the characteristics of the players at his disposal, limited coach just wanna push the only system he knows and fit a square peg into a round hole.
      The high press doesn’t work because Milan midfielders outside of Musah are not good at pressing high. Nor the wingers are the same at pressing as Rebic and Saelemakers were early in Pioli’s tenure.

      1. For now we gotta deal with what we have, as Pioli isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
        As for the system we should use, I guess the point is precisely to play more defensively against stronger teams (psg, inter,…) that can easily deal with our high line, high pressure system. Because let’s faced it, against them, a high block was tried and failed, and we’re not liverpool or city to make it work every single time.
        Against weaker teams however, I agree that we shouldn’t be so defensive, and high block can actually work against them.
        And lastly, Pioli and players please ffs, work more on set pieces, I think penalties aside, we didn’t score a single time from a deadball.

      2. @Z I think I have to agree with you 100% here. I said basithe same a couple games ago. We really dont have a system of play. A system that can carve out chances and attacking moments. Right now it was individual brilliance supported by a great team effort in the defensive phase. The only time I saw an attacking system of play is against Napoli for one half..and that only because Napoli gives us space. Like you said, once the other team closes up, it becomes difficult for us

        1. That’s why we absolutety need to become good at scoring from set pieces.
          In a freekick or in a corner, it doesn’t matter if the team you face is the defensive or offensive type. And the good thing is that we you score against a defensive team, they will be forced to open up more if they want to equalize.

  3. Dang the danish team FC Copenhagen just beat manchester utd after being 0-2 down and beating them 4-3 2nd after bayern munich at the group B table with galatasaray at 3rd place and with utd at the fourth place 😀
    this hastruly been a funny football week.

      1. Im not really a fan of danish club teams except for my local 2nd tier team and thats pretty lightly but when danish teams plays in europe ill cheer on them unless they actually meets ac milan but i do think fc copenhagen did a great job tonight and has played pretty well in all of their cl matches.
        Are you referring to the red card ? it could propably be argued its a yellow card but i cant really say i care its ONE HELL OF A RESULT 😀
        Not necessarily as great a result as when OB beat Real Madrid at Bernabeau in 1994 2-0 after losing 2-3 at home but still a hoot to watch and a great result for a fairly small team and football nation with roughly 6 million citicenz,

        Fodbold Real Madrid -OB 0-2, 2 06 12 1994
        😀

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tc0TLFIzAI

        😀

        1. The red and the two pens..it’s like the ppl who are in VAR don’t ay football. Where do they expect people’s hand to go? Disappear?? Lol

      2. 😀 tried to post a reply earlier that wasnt posted but overall i think fc copenhagen did well and has done so in all matches but this one nevertheless started out bad for them but ill take the victory 😛

  5. Great performance by the team! Special mention to Calabria who has been impressive in recent games and also to Reijnders, who finally performed against a big team.
    One big area for improvement will be the finishing from the midfielders. This season we have missed quite a lot of chances when the midfielders had open shots. Can’t imagine Tomori getting to take the freekick, though he did well.

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