AC Milan Player Ratings: Milan 2-2 Hellas Verona

After a borderline embarrassing loss in the Europa League, AC Milan turned their attention to Serie A where they faced Hellas Verona. Milan had a horrific start to the match as Hellas Verona scored just six minutes in. Milan responded well to the Verona goal but they were unable to convert any chances. Again in the 19th minute a set piece was the downfall for Milan where they saw Verona take a 2-0 lead. Milan continued to fight and in the 27th minute they were awarded for their effort with a goal of their own. After a hard fought but disappointing half Milan saw themselves fatigued and down two goals to one.

The second half was all Milan from start to finish. There was no point in the second half where Milan weren't attacking Verona. Aside from one chance that Verona had, Milan dominated this half. However even with 30 plus attempts at goal Milan had their struggles converting. There were clear chances for almost everyone on the team but the chances for Theo Hernandez stick out as he should have converted those. Milan were given a penalty in the 66th minute and of course Ibra stepped up to take it. Frankly I turned my back to watch the penalty and when I turned back around I saw that he blasted it over the net. Still down a goal Milan continued to fight. They flung balls into the box praying for a chance. In the 90th minute that chance finally came from a Calabria goal but VAR disallowed it saying that Ibra used his hand to bat it down. In the 93rd minute Milan got that chance again and Ibra buried the header home levelling the score at 2-2. After a frustrating 90 minutes the match ended in a draw.

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STARTING LINE-UP

Gianluigi Donnarumma: Gigio made some good saves when he had the chance. Both of the goals scored against were clearly not his fault and unlucky. 6.5/10

Davide Calabria: Rough night for Davide. Defensively he struggled too many times to contain the Verona attack and he was one of the weak points on a fairly good defence in this match. 5.5/10

Simon Kjaer: Kjaer returned to form after a subpar match in Europa League. Him and Gabbia really snuffed out any Verona attack. Aside from the two set pieces, Verona had maybe one good scoring chance form open play. One thing I wish Kjaer did was head the ball better offensively on set pieces. Some of these chances he needs to score on.6.5/10

Matteo Gabbia: Much like Kjaer, Gabbia was solid in his return from Covid. Being a last minute replace he stepped up in the absence of Romagnoli. 6.5/10

Theo Hernandez: Usually Theo struggles a bit defensively but in this match he struggled to score. He had two clear cut chances that he simply just needs to capitalize on. He also had a nice play tracking back to erase the Verona counter attack. 6/10

Franck Kessie: I think Kessie played an overall solid match and is back on track after a disaster vs Lille. But Kessie was the one marking Barak on Verona’s first goal. Marking on set pieces needs to be better from him and the rest of the squad. 6.5/10

Ismael Bennacer: Ismael Bennacer fought during every minute of this match. When he arrived at Milan he said he would fight for the badge and today he did that. He fought tooth and nail to bring Milan back into the match. 6.7/10

Alexis Saelemaekers: Saelemaekers wasn't his usual self as he was contained on the right side. He did whip in a nice cross for Milan’s first goal but was subbed off at the half. 5.7/10

Hakan Calhanoglu: I’m not sure what happened to Hakan, maybe the injury or something else but he has returned to his form that we've seen before. He was wasteful with the ball sending wild passes everywhere on the pitch and thats not even mentioning his corners. If he wants a pay raise he's gonna have to step it up. 5.5/10

Rafael Leao: I thought that Rafa played well when he was on the left, cutting inside and out while using technique to create chances. Once he switched to the right side he was less effective in my eyes. He didn't show the same flair as he did earlier on in the match. 5.7/10

Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Zlatan didn't have a good match and he admitted as much in his post match interview. Today he was tired, not focused and hell bent on complaining. He has missed 3 penalties now and two of those have been bad misses over the net. Of course he did score to save Milan from losing and his holdup play especially at the end was crucial for Milan to inch back in the match. 5.5/10

SUBSTITUTES

Ante Rebic: Ante still looks rusty and that is evident in his dribbling. Numerous times he would try to make a move and completely forget the ball. Then on the other hand he would just outmuscle defenders. 5.5/10

Brahim Diaz: Brahim came on and played on both he right side and middle of the pitch. He didn't see a lot of the ball but when he had an opportunity to put in a nice cross to Ibra he did and that ultimately helped Milan tie the match. 6/10

Jans Petter Hauge: N/A