AC Milan’s Primavera side failed to continue their success story in the UEFA Youth League earlier this evening as they were knocked out 3-1 by Hajduk Split. Down below are the tops and flops for the Rossoneri.
Tops
Victor Eletu: He was very confident on the ball and used his low centre of gravity on multiple occasions to win it back as well. Being left-footed and quite short, his playing style is somewhat similar to Ismael Bennacer with good passing but also important defensive contribution.
Hugo Cuenca: He’s one of the stars on the team and he showed that today. He very nearly scored with a great header (which hit the crossbar) and he was probably the one that created the most. However, he could be slightly less selfish.
Dariusz Stalmach: He was always very keen on directing his teammates and dared to drive forward with the ball on multiple occasions. He had one effort that was well-saved by the keeper. It’s clear that he has a lot of talent.
Flops
Andrei Cubis: As the captain of the team, you simply cannot make such a mistake at the back, and in such an important game. He was poor in possession the entire game and failed to keep the defence compact as well.
Lapo Nava: The goalkeeping on the second goal was just laughable, a real rookie mistake. The header might have gone in anyway, but he dove the completely wrong way. And maybe he could have got down lower on the third goal as well.
Youns El Hilali: We expect so much more from him and it simply wasn’t a good game. Whenever he got into a position to shoot it was almost always blocked and on a couple of occasions he shot when he should have passed.
For me, there was only one top, and that was Eletu. Very exiciting player: fast, good technique, a good left foot and lots of running. Kante-style. The rest were sub-par, especially coach Abate who did not put the best eleven on the field. And Cuenca? The new one trick pony. Did anyone say Suso?
Leave the kids alone and let them grow with no pressure
We probably won’t see many of these make it to the senior side or indeed Serie A despite the fact that they made it to the semis at this level making them the top 0.0000000000000000001% on planet for their age.
These guys are getting overrated. Saw the game and been following for a while. I can’t see anyone making the first team except maybe (big maybe) Alesia. The quality overall on both sides is just not quite there imo.
Agreed, from what little I have seen of them this season, I only see Eletu and possibly Alesio being options for a bench role in the first team in the future. I see commenters on here suggesting some of these players making the bench for the first team next season but in reality, they would all be a downgrade from any of the current first team players.
lol it’s neither Alesia nor Alesio. At least write the boy’s name correctly if you want to address him. It’s Gabriele Alesi.
Many of these guys can be useful and “make it”, but they will need years of experience. You can’t immediately give them consistent game time in Milan and you can’t expect them to sit on the bench and grow.
Auto-correct, my friend. Hurts more than it helps!
Autocorrect buddy. It happens but u knew who I was talking about.
Of course anyone “can make it” but the way they hype these guys up is really setting them up for downfall. We’ve seen so many in the past. In reality we dont know how good they are until getting minutes like on loan.
I really wished we would have signed and loaned back Traore to Parma because it’s a disservice to go back to Primavera when he was getting first team minutes
I believe we have one of the youngest teams in the competition. Getting to the semi-finals is a tremendous achievement. The main problem is the boys will struggle with the physicality of men. We need to copy Juve and put this team in one of the lower leagues.
The only top and positive player I was in the match was Eletu, others are flop and don’t think they can make grade in Milan first team. The captain is a big joke, not only for the 3rd goal but throughout the entire game, no wonder they aren’t doing well in the league