AC Milan 1-0 Lazio: Five things we learned

Following the massive win in opposition to Inter, AC Milan had been hoping to clinch one other three factors in opposition to Lazio. It wasn’t a straightforward conflict, however the Rossoneri had been victorious underneath the San Siro lights.

All issues thought of, the sport was pretty even and slightly cagey, as each groups struggled to create many clear-cut possibilities. The night may have taken a very completely different flip after simply two minutes, although, as Mike Maignan was pressured to make an excellent save.

Milan finally broke the impasse within the 51st minute by Rafael Leao, who bought on the top of Fikayo Tomori’s cross into the field. Then, controversy struck within the dying minutes as VAR incorrectly instructed the referee to examine a possible handball on the pitch.

Fortuitously, the referee opted to not award a penalty, giving a free-kick to Milan as an alternative, and that sealed the deal for Massimiliano Allegri’s males. Under are 5 issues that we realized from the vital win…

1. Give him a contract!

Milan have made some questionable choices concerning renewals prior to now few seasons, appearing too late in a number of cases, and so they can’t afford to do the identical with Maignan.

The goalkeeper did have a questionable 2024-25 marketing campaign, however so did the defenders who had been supposed to guard him and never go away him for useless. Now, with a significantly better defence, the Frenchman has additionally been capable of present his qualities.

Towards Lazio, he once more got here in clutch with a ridiculous save early on to maintain the rating stage. In different phrases, lower than per week after the penalty save in opposition to Inter (and another good saves in that), the goalkeeper made a giant distinction once more.

It looks like a no brainer to offer him a pay rise, a big one thoughts you, to maintain him at San Siro for extra than simply this season.

2. Main the pack

Excluding the early likelihood, Lazio didn’t have a lot to work with in assault and Matteo Gabbia is among the explanation why this was the case.

The Italian has established himself as a key determine for his facet and continued to show this in opposition to Lazio with nice positioning and many clearances. He additionally had a few last-ditch tackles, one in every of which prevented 1v1 with Maignan for Isaksen.

Certainly, it was an excellent show by the centre-back by way of his personal defending, but in addition his management expertise as he motivated his colleagues to maintain going even after errors. The response to the referee’s no-penalty choice says lots about how a lot he cares about this workforce.

3. Unusually shaky within the center

The midfield battle was gained by Milan, however the efficiency undoubtedly wasn’t one to brag about.

Luka Modric made fairly a couple of errors, particularly by his requirements, with some misplaced balls and misplaced passes. Though the general efficiency wasn’t dangerous, it appears he may do with a little bit of a relaxation within the upcoming fixtures, given how a lot he has performed lately.

Adrien Rabiot additionally wasn’t a decisive as we have now grow to be used right now, even when he was nonetheless stable and cozy in possession. A little bit of directness was lacking from his recreation, however we do have to enrich Lazio on how tidy they had been on the again, leaving only a few empty areas for gamers like Rabiot and Modric to discover.

Then we have now Fofana, who, like Modric and Rabiot wasn’t essentially dangerous however didn’t present a complete lot going ahead. Sure, he was concerned within the purpose with a great go, however there have been extra moments through which he may have been decisive.

One sequence, which has made the rounds on social media, noticed him run virtually the complete size of the pitch, dribbling previous a number of defenders, solely to utterly miss the ball. It’s a run that may be very symbolic for his season to date.

4. Leao saves the day

The Portuguese worldwide began the sport alongside Christopher Nkunku, because of the accidents of Santiago Gimenez and Christian Pulisic. Sadly, the shortage of chemistry was evident as we barely noticed the 2 combining.

Within the second half, Leao was a complete lot livelier than his colleague, getting the purpose after nice positioning and intuition contained in the field. He additionally had one other likelihood shortly after that was denied by the keeper, whereas urgent the Lazio defence arduous when Milan had been out of possession.

Nkunku, however, was utterly invisible and followers can undoubtedly have questions on his price ticket in the summertime (extra on that later). With out a striker accomplice, it’s additionally very arduous for gamers like Leao to carry out, because the opponents don’t have to put as a lot deal with marking the second striker.

In brief, Leao did effectively to make a distinction underneath the circumstances and now has an excellent tally to date this season, with six objectives and one help in ten appearances.

5. Flop of the season?

As stated, Nkunku bought to begin within the recreation thanks to 2 absences, hoping to show that he’s well worth the €37-38m that Milan paid for him in the summertime. Nevertheless,  it was one more underwhelming efficiency from the previous Chelsea man.

He felt utterly absent within the first 45 minutes of the sport, and though we noticed a bit extra at the beginning of the second half, he was rightfully subbed off by Allegri. Proper now, the Frenchman doesn’t even appear match even to return off the bench himself.

It’s slightly ridiculous to be this unfit at this stage of the season. You possibly can speak in regards to the powerful previous few months at Chelsea all you need, however with a number of months spent with the Rossoneri, the followers have the fitting to demand much more.

To this point, anyway, he may be thought of a flop and it stays to be seen if he’ll have the ability to reply to the criticism.