AC Milan secured progression to the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Cagliari at San Siro on Tuesday night.
It was the Luka Jovic and Theo Hernandez show in the first half as Milan ran out to a commanding two-goal lead. The first was a floated ball that the striker took down and finished well; the second another low shot that came this time after a typical surging Theo run from his own half.
There was to be an emotional moment in the second half for Chaka Traore as he scored his first ever goal for the Rossoneri in his first start for the senior team to make it 3-0. Paolo Azzi got one back for the away side, but substitute Rafael Leao netted a lovely goal to end the contest.
Sassuolo or Atalanta now await for Milan in the final eight of the competition, and given that Inter and Napoli are out of the competition already the prospect of a cup run is easier on paper.
Stefano Pioli chose to name quite an interesting starting line-up which featured the likes of Antonio Mirante, Jan-Carlo Simic, Alex Jimenez, Luka Romero and Chaka Traore against an also rotated Cagliari side.
Mirante was called into action inside the first few minutes of the game as he made a good reaction stop to deny the former Milan striker Petagna whose near-post header was going in.
Then it was Milan’s turn to threaten at the other end as some excellent work from Yacine Adli in a deeper position found Luka Jovic’s run in behind the Cagliari defence, though Radunovic saved the low shot well.
Jimenez was making his senior debut for Milan after signing on an initial loan deal from Real Madrid in the summer, and he found himself instantly in a battle with Luvumbo down the left side.
Cagliari maybe should have taken the lead in the 17th minute when Luvumbo played a one-two with Petagna and got the ball back in space deep inside the box, yet the striker prodded straight into the grateful arms of Mirante.
Milan netted the opener just before the half-hour mark, and it came through the ever-present threat of Jovic. Theo Hernandez played a lovely floating ball into the box and the Serbian centre-forward who got in behind his man before chesting down and firing in low past the goalkeeper.
The Rossoneri seemed to take confidence from that goal and began ramping up the pressure. Minutes before the break it became a two-goal cushion and it was all thanks to Theo again. He nipped in to beat Makoumbou to a pass before sprinting to the other end of the pitch a-la-Atalanta and finding Jovic, who finished under Radunovic.
In the 50th minute it was 3-0, and it was a very memorable moment for Chaka Traore. This time Jimenez had a hand as he pulled a ball back from the by-line which Chukwueze whiffed at before Traore took possession, stayed on his feet despite being pulled down and fired under Radunovic, who again should have done better.
On the hour mark Pioli decided to make a change as Alessandro Florenzi came on in place of the captain Calabria. Not long after, Mirante came for a corner that he didn’t get to and a Petagna header went over the bar.
With 20 minutes left on the clock, Pioli made a couple more changes as more firepower came on through Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic, who replaced Traore and Romero. The Ivorian got a big hug from Leao as he made way, after he scored his first goal for the club.
As the game drifted towards its inevitable final result, the final two changes came of 80 minutes with Davide Bartesaghi and Kevin Zeroli coming on for Reijnders and Jimenez.
Leao seemed determined to get his name back on the scoresheet at San Siro and he wasn’t far from doing so with a darting run infield and a right-footed shot that went wide of the post. In the final four minutes he did the same move again but this time fired at Radunovic.
Some gloss was taken off the scoreline in the closing stages as Milan coughed up possession in their own half allowing Azzi to shoot, with his effort taking a big deflection off his team-mate Luvumbo to sneak inside the near post.
The final flourish came from Leao as his pick-the-ball-up-cut-inside-and-shoot approach finally worked. He got in isolation with his man down the left, striding into the box and finding the far corner with a precise low shot to make it 4-1.
I’m not happy with Chukwueze. Hoping the Afcon will help him find his form
Jovic>Giroud
I like both of them. But right Jovic is definitely one we should count on more in the future. Let Giroud rest more, and Giroud will play better in the end with rest.
Abate is doing an amazing job with Milan Primavera. Pioli should count on players for rotation. They all played really well today. Forza Milan🔴⚫️
A great match. And Chukwueze, while he does need to step it up, was a part of at least one of those goals. I think he can do more personally. I think he’s fully capable in doing more.
Still a great match overall, and Luka Jovic proved all his doubters wrong. I can tell he just wants to get his life and career back on track. He’s a good guy. Just went to the wrong team and wrong environment.
The other youngsters did well too. Traore, Romero, Simic… glad to see them.
We do need to be more careful defensively, as we did concede one, but this is a great start to the year.
Traore needs to thank Chukwueze for his first ever goal!
Jimenez actually cut that ball back to Chuk, but he whiffed on it, missing it entirely, which allowed the ball to roll to Okafor, who scored.
What I took from this game:
– Theo is good at everything.
– Jimenez is the new surprise for me! He played very well.
– I have missed those times Leao decide to score and score.
– Sad to see Chuck can’t get his form
Jovic seems to be much stronger than Rebic and Origi combined.
Unfortunately for now, Chukwueze can’t show the difference in attack, even he has greater potential than Messias and Saelemaekers combined.
Theo showed again he can be good centre back on left side.
Jimenez might be left back deputy.
And overall again, this is stronger team than last year, but unfortunately many injuries.
If luck change in continuation of the season, we might catch some good results in Coppa and Europe aswell.
It’s nice to started 2024 with a good bang.
Hope this good momentum continue against Empoli at the end of this week.
Fun watching the big guns come on in the last 20, but perhaps odd to risk Leao and Pulisic to injury in a game in which we were up 3. Then again, given this year’s history, Pioli probably figured no lead is safe.