Milan Season Ratings: Goalkeepers and Defence

The season is finally over, and AC Milan has qualified for the Champions League once again! We here at the website thought it would be fitting to rate the players based on their season. This will be the first part where I rate goalkeepers and defenders, be on the lookout later this week for parts 2 and 3.

Goalkeepers

Gianluigi Donnarumma: This was another year where Gigio showed more signs of improvement. This year I would say that he improved with the ball at his feet and became louder at the back organizing the defence and keeping their head in the match. There were times during the season where Gigio saved Milan from certain doom. I also have to mention that this rating is based purely on his performance during the season and not his buffoonery once the season ended. 8/10

Ciprian Tatarusanu: Tatarusanu had a stereotypical backup goalkeeper season. His first game with Milan was rough, to say the least, and he was at fault for the draw versus Roma. However, Tatarusanu bounced back with some nice games and some very nice saves. Tatarusanu met my expectations for what he brought this season, and it was nice to see him bounce back after a poor start. 6/10

Antonio Donnarumma: What a season by Antonio, he handed out many water bowls and towels to the team, his form was perfect. In all seriousness, his spot on the roster is a waste of a goalkeeper spot and hopefully now that his brother is gone, he leaves too. N/A

Defenders

Davide Calabria: What a great bounce-back season for Calabria. Davide Struggled immensely last season but in 2020/2021 he came back with a vengeance. Throughout the season he locked down the right side and was a wall not letting anyone get by him. Calabria even must get some bonus points because he plays through injury during the end of the season to secure a Champions League spot. 6.7/10

Diogo Dalot: I had some high expectations for Dalot when he came into the club. For a large portion of the season, he didn’t meet expectations and put in many subpar performances. However, you could see that as the season went on Dalot did get better. His versatility was a big asset for Milan as he played right-back, left-back and even right-wing at times. To end the season Dalot was strong, and he seemed to care about the club even though he was only on loan. 6/10

Pierre Kalulu: After being signed from Lyon for a small fee, not many thought Kalulu would get much playing time. However du,e to a massive injury crisis, Kalulu was forced to play and play out of position. Sure, Kalulu played a bit of centre-back in the Lyon youth academy, but he is more of a right-back. Kalulu stepped in and performed well in both positions that he played. Of course, he had some moments where his youthfulness showed but he displayed some nice potential in his first professional season. 6/10

Simon Kjaer: After a good season last year, Kjaer backed it up with another solid year for the 2020/2021 season. At times Kjaer was impossible to get by at the back. One thing to appreciate about Kjaer is the leadership that he brings to the backline. Milan’s defence is youthful so the presence of Kjaer helps a ton. Kjaer did have some questionable moments but the good outweighed the bad. 7.5/10

Fikayo Tomori: Tomori came in the January window and got off to a hot start. He was thrown into a match against Inter and performed well. Since then, Tomori earned himself a starting spot and deservedly so. For a lot of his time here Tomori was great and his pace matched how Milan want to play with a high defensive line. There was a stretch of matches where Fik struggled a bit, but he turned that around near the end of the season and finished strong. 7.5/10

Alessio Romagnoli: This season was a big struggle for Alessio. From the start of the year, he just didn’t look like his usual self. His pace this season just was not it and he continuously got beat by various attackers. One moment that sticks is the match versus Inter where he just looked 3 steps behind Lukaku and Martinez. There were a few matches where he was starting to get better but ultimately, he couldn’t gain enough momentum throughout the season. 5.5/10

Matteo Gabbia: All season long Gabbia was either lost on the bench or injured. He played very few matches this year but in the matches that he played, he seemed to be a decent squad player. I’m not sure if he’ll be anything more than a squad player but on his time on the pitch, he looked somewhat ok. 5.5/10

Theo Hernandez: This was an up and down season for Theo. To start the year Theo was on fire both scoring and assisting in numerous matches. It could even be said that Theo was solid defensively at the beginning of the year. Then his defensive form started to dip but Theo kept scoring last-minute goals to save Milan and get them points. After that came a stretch where Theo’s form dipped, and he wasn’t having great matches. To end the year, he climbed out of his poor form, playing solidly. Some of the last-minute goals that Theo scored were so crucial to Milan it had to bump up his rating a bit. 7/10