AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli opted to put faith in his rotation options during last night’s game against Monza, and it would be fair to say that he was let down by them.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) reports, Luka Jovic’s match ended after seven minutes of the second half as he was given a red card for lashing out at Izzo, following a VAR review from the referee Colombo.
The Serbian striker trudged off with his head down, without attempting to argue or justify himself to the referee, which was an admission of guilt and he is now looking at a three-game ban.
After the exploits of the last few weeks, Jovic appeared to be back to the version he was at the beginning of the season, and the fact Olivier Giroud scored off the bench once again showed that the pre-established hierarchies are absolutely correct.
Meanwhile, Samu Chukwueze returned from his commitments with Nigeria at the African Cup of Nations without having trained much in the build-up to the game. He started at the U-Power Stadium without making an impact.
With Nigeria he came off the bench in the semi-finals and was an unused substitute in the other knockout rounds, the round of 16 and the quarter-finals. He got no goals or assists: in addition to the team’s defeat in the final, a personal disappointment.
Yesterday he had a couple of moments, namely the drive to the byline which saw nobody put away the cut-back, and then the left-footed shot after darting in from the left, but darkness followed and he was replaced at the end of the first half.
In his first season at the club Chukwueze has remained on the pitch for the entire match on just one occasion and in Serie A he is still without a goal – not a sufficient return for a player who arrived in a €28m deal.
Meanwhile, Noah Okafor was given the nod to replace Rafael Leao on the left and he did not leave any real mark on the game at all. Stefano Pioli revealed it was a late decision to play him, but more has to be expected.
