Review of the Rossoneri Performances Out On International Duty

AC Milan had 15 players out representing their national teams over the international break. Here's how the players fared:

Ismael Bennacer - Algeria

Bennacer played the full 90 minutes in Algeria’s friendly match against Benin at home. The Algerian side received a guard of honor and a hero’s welcome as this was their first game since winning the Africa Cup of Nations. Bennacer was instrumental in the 1-0 win and his passing play was the highlight of the performance.

Rade Krunic - Bosnia and Herzegovina

Krunic played one of the two games for Bosnia and featured for a full 90 minutes when his side crushed Liechtenstein 5-0 at home. Krunic took the field as a right midfielder in a 4-3-3 and played a decent role focusing on driving play forward. He sat on the bench for Bosnia’s 4-2 loss to Armenia.

Suso - Spain

Suso managed to play one of the two Spain games as he was benched for the first game against Romania but managed 68 minutes against the Faroe Islands in a 4-0 bashing. Suso played quite well flashing his skills and delivered a few dangerous balls in from the right wing.

Gianluigi Donnarumma - Italy

Donnarumma started both Italy’s games and has firmly established his as the national no. 1 at this point. Donnaruma was excellent as usual and made quite a number of last ditch saves however did not manage a clean sheet conceding a goal in each match. He also picked up a booking against Finland for complaining over Teemu Pukki’s penalty.

Franck Kessie - Ivory Coast

Franck Kessie started both of Cote d’Ivoire’s friendlies against Benin and Tunisia in which they recorded a 2-1 loss and a 2-1 victory respectively. Kessie dominated the midfield in both games and showed signs of his growing attacking inklings.

Hakan Calhanoglu - Turkey

The Turkish midfielder featured in both his national sides qualifiers beating Andorra 1-0 and Moldova 4-0. Calhanoglu took a few wicked shots against Andorra but was impactful when breaking the lines with his passing, he only made a 20 minute cameo in the second game.

Ante Rebic - Croatia

Rebic was a starter for Croatia in both games and played a vital role on the left side on an attacking triangle in a 4-2-3-1. Rebic always did well to pressure the opponents and cut the ball back into the middle from the wing. Croatia beat Slovakia 4-0 but were held 1-1 by Azerbaijan.

Alessio Romagnoli - Italy

Romagnoli started alongside Bonucci for Italy against Armenia and looked solid albeit a few mistakes and lapses in concentration. Both Bonucci and Romagnoli were beat by Karapetian for the goal as he swivelled past both before slotting home. Romagnoli was replaced by Acerbi for the second game.

Lucas Paqueta - Brazil

Paqueta just had a brief cameo against Colombia where his little bit of kill set twitter ablaze however, this phase of play also demonstrated what Giampaolo meant by Paqueta being “too Brazilian.” Paqueta did brilliantly to recover the ball followed by a sublime 360 spin to escape a tackle but then simply lost possession instead of playing a simple focused pass. He cannot keep doing this if he wants a real shot at breaking into Brazil’s starting XI.

Ricardo Rodriguez - Switzerland

Finally something for a Rossoneri highlight reel. Rodriguez played the full 180 minutes across two games and featured as a left-back and a left central defender shifting between a back four and a back three. He did manage to snag a beautiful goal with a sleek volley that slid off the ground for Switzerland’s third goal in a 4-0 pummelling of Gibraltar.

Rafael Leao - Portugal U-21

Leao featured in one game for Portgual’s U-21 in their U-21 Euro qualifiers. Leao managed to steal a loose ball a score in Portugal’s 2-0 win over Belarus. He was unable to play a full game but was very good at holding the play up and pressuring the defence.

Krzysztof Piatek - Poland

Piatek had perhaps the worst international break of all. He only managed 76 minutes of the first Poland game before being benched and is still holding out for an opening goal. His side lost 2-0 to Slovenia and sat on the bench as Poland were held 0-0 by Austria. The drought continues.

Alessandro Plizari and Matteo Gabbia - Italy U-21

Plizzari who is currently out on loan managed to keep a clean sheet as the Italian youngsters ravaged Luxembourg 5-0 whilst Gabbia sat on the bench. Plizzari made a few good saves but was largely unchallenged. He was great at commanding his defence though.

All Milan players should be back in the city and training with the squad in preparation of the weekend fixture against Hellas Verona. Milan have a tendency to play terribly after the international break, let's hope the players can break that spell.