AC Milan Player Ratings: Milan 3-1 Dinamo Zagreb

AC Milan beat Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 at the San Siro yesterday evening as the young squad delivered the first European (CL) victory at home since the 2013/14 season. Alexis Saelemaekers got another goal in the competition while youth product Tommaso Pobega also got his first goal in the competition. Olivier Giroud scored a penalty to kick off the proceedings. Here are our player ratings for the game:

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STARTING LINE-UP

Mike Maignan: Pretty quiet game except on the goal where there was not much to be done. 6/10

Davide Calabria: He did well in this one with lots of interceptions but was quite easily beaten by Orsic on multiple occasions including the run of play that led to the goal. 6/10

Pierre Kalulu: A strong comeback from him and an important role he showed comfort going forward. He defended well but was blindsided on the goal. 6.5/10

Fikayo Tomori: A physical performance with lots of hard tackles and silenced the attack for majority of the game. He was naive on the goal as his press on the back of the striker opened up the space for Orsic’s run. 7/10

Theo Hernandez: He is finally becoming a word class player in my view as his defence is now strong and he is showing maturity in his decisions. Lots of fans have been sold on him since year 1 when he was scoring wild goals but only now can you be truly convinced that he is a wholly dependable player. 7.5/10

Ismael Bennacer: He was dominant and he is the engine of this side. His ability to constantly win the ball back and get a counter started is underrated and he will only get better. His pressing won us the midfield battle. 7.5/10

Sandro Tonali: A weird game for him as he played as a floater across the midfield. The positioning just was not there and hence he was less effective in supporting the attack. 6/10

Alexis Saelemaekers: Almost identical performance to the last game. Lots of useless and wasteful play as we expect of him and one moment where he was in the right place and the right time to get the goal. I’ll take these performances if he keeps scoring. 7/10

Brahim Diaz: He struggled for influence and kept getting pushed off the ball. He kept pressing hard but his passing going forward was often sloppy and he did not really stamp his authority at all. 5.5/10

Rafael Leao: This rating may be a tad higher but it is simply because even on a bad day, he got the job done. He won the penalty and provided an assist. His finishing was not there and he wasted lots of opportunities but the fact is he created those chances and influence the game delivering the win. 8/10

Olivier Giroud: He is becoming the penalty merchant of the side since taking over from Kessie. As long as he keeps tucking them away, no issue here. His hold up play is important in this system but not too many clear cut chances. 6.5/10

SUBSTITUTES

Tommaso Pobega: A belter of a goal for the primavera product and he showed that he can come through with some big performances. This might be a harsh assessment but it is meant with love, he reminds me of Sulley Muntari. We will get some average sloppy games but also some worldies. He is not the quickest but is physical and good at pushing up the game. Pobega is more defence minded than Muntari was but the parallels are there. 7/10

Charles de Ketelaere: An okay performance as he tried to get balls into the box and push passes through but the game was quite locked up at this point so not much impact. 6/10

Rade Krunic: Good to see him back from injury as he will play an important rotating role.. N/A

Sergino Dest: Not much of note but he showed he has some aggression and desire to push forward and get closer to goal. N/A

Junior Messias: Too little interaction for a review. N/A

MANAGER

Stefano Pioli: Great game plan and an important three points in the bag. Only worry is some tired legs for the Napoli tie. He is bringing the best out of the young players and really deserves praise for this. 7/10