AC Milan got back to winning ways against Sassuolo at San Siro on Saturday evening. However, it was far from a great performance, rescued by a moment of brilliance from Ismael Bennacer and Christian Pulisic.
Starting XI
Maignan (6): He made a couple of good stops but wasn’t really forced to anything spectacular, bar maybe the Berardi effort in the first half. No howlers this time out, which is the most important thing.
Calabria (6): Decent in both phases of the game today, but he could have done better sometimes when driving forward with the ball. In any case, nothing major to complain about.
Kjaer (6): The Dane got his defensive duties done, also offering a threat on set pieces, but it was an average day for him just like many of his colleagues.
Hernandez (6): Even though he has played there a few times now, we have to be fair when assessing the Frenchman’s performances. Today, he did well overall and also made a couple of good sprinting interceptions.
Florenzi (6): Maybe it sounds a bit generous, seeing as Milan’s left side wasn’t exactly red hot, but he defended rather well and also had a couple of decent efforts in attack.
Loftus-Cheek (5.5): He’s strong, we all know it, but he simply didn’t offer enough when going forward tonight and that was a shame. He can be a lot more incisive than this, and Milan should demand more truth be told.
Bennacer (6.5): He got the crucial assist with a nice pass – albeit with some luck – and was pretty much spot on with most of his passing tonight. Not a spectacular performance by any means, but he was important.
Reijnders (6): His passing, just like Bennacer, was very nice at times but the Dutchman simply must improve in the final third. His shooting has let him down so many times this season and it happened again tonight.
Pulisic (7 – MOTM): Say what you want about his performance overall (it was far from amazing), but he was clutch once again for the Rossoneri. It was a great run in behind the defence and the finish was very composed. For a higher rating, he would have needed to do more besides the goal.
Giroud (5): Pretty much invisible for most of the game, bar a few touches here and there, and he was rightfully taken off after 63 minutes.
Leao (5): It wasn’t his evening, which unfortunately is a phrase that we have said many times this season already. He had many opportunities to run at the defence, 1v1, but he lost many duels and when he did win them, the final touch was lacking.
Substitutes
Adli (6): Bold with his passing and in possession, as always, but it was not much more than that. The game didn’t really allow more flash, we should add.
Jovic (5.5): He entered the pitch with energy but ended up playing too much with his back towards the goa. Maybe that was more the result of how the game panned out, though.
Zeroli (N/A): He got to make his debut for the Rossoneri but aside from a few sequences, we didn’t see enough to give a rating.
Simic (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Chukwueze (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
