AC Milan Player Ratings: Milan 1-2 Napoli

AC Milan were beaten 2-1 by Napoli at the San Siro last night as Politano’s penalty and Simeone’s header sunk the champions of Italy. Stefano Pioli’s side will need to regroup during the international break and hit back harder. Here are the player ratings from the game:

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STARTING LINE-UP

Mike Maignan: A shame he couldn;t stop the penalty given he went the right way. Nothing to be done on the second goal. A tough one. 6/10

Davide Calabria: He did so well and gave a solid response to Mancini’s sub. He defended really well and kept Kvaratshkelia quiet for the whole first half. The injury was bad luck. 6.5/10

Simon Kjaer: A game where he was exposed quite easily given that there was a mismatch in his speed against Kvaratshkelia and Raspadori. Pioli made the wrong choice to start him and we paid the price with the booking and forced early sub. 5.5/10

Fikayo Tomori: His poor form continue, he completely lost his man on the second goal. He keeps getting beaten in crucial moments and it is reducing our reliability at the back. 4.5/10

Theo Hernandez: He did everything right in this game. Barely a foot wrong and got the all important assist as well as lots more quality balls into the box. 7/10

Ismael Bennacer: Yet again the only bright spot when Milan faced difficult opposition. His interceptions were crucial and he dictated the pace of the game for large spells, unfortunate he slipped in the box when trying to hit the shot off a corner rebound. 7.5/10

Sandro Tonali: A strange one where he did well to link up play and pressed in defence but was largely caught out of the play. 6/10

Alexis Saelemaekers: Another maddeningly average game where he did nothing but lose the ball and get dispossessed over and over again. 5/10

Charles de Ketelaere: A really poor game from him where it showed that he is lacking confidence and needs time to settle in Italy. His misplaced passes slowed down our attacks and his confusing movement made him anonymous for large spells. One to forget. 4.5/10

Rade Krunic: A really solid performance where he actually offered a threat on that left wing. He had some good runs into the box and enabled Theo to make those dangerous runs down the line. 6.5/10

Olivier Giroud: What a goal and demonstration of class yet again to score in the big game. He really struggled without having someone to lay off for but still managed to get something out of this. 7/10

SUBSTITUTES

Sergino Dest: An awful display from the American, he offered absolutely nothing going forward and was easily beaten by Kvaratshkelia who forced the silly challenge on the penalty. A really sobering moment to show Calabria in a positive light. 4/10

Pierre Kalulu: He brought much more pace and strength to the defence than Kjaer but also did well to push play forward. He missed an unbelievable sitter yet again which could’ve changed the game. 6/10

Junior Messias: He added some extra firepower immediately off the bench and despite being locked out offered more than Saelemaekers. 5.5/10

Brahim Diaz: He added some fluidity to the play early on when CDK was struggling but quickly fell out of the game and barely got a touch. 5.5/10

Yacine Adli: A poor outing, he has to do more with the limited time being afforded to him. He added some zing to the attack but seemed to rushed and eager leading to misplaced passes. 5.5/10

MANAGER

Stefano Pioli: This might be harsh given how dominant Milan were all game but the decision to start Kjaer was the root of all the defensive distress that forced substitutions and was a domino effect for the opening goal for Napoli. He should have trusted Kalulu and avoided those two bookings in the first half and allowed them a foothold. 5/10