AC Milan 3-0 Lecce: Five things we learned

AC Milan booked their place within the subsequent spherical of the Coppa Italia with a convincing 3-0 win over Lecce at San Siro on Tuesday night time.

In reality, the sport rapidly descended right into a little bit of a coaching train. Milan peppered Lecce’s objective with early makes an attempt, then Jamil Siebert noticed purple after a VAR evaluate deemed that he had taken Christopher Nkunku down because the final man.

Santiago Gimenez broke his duck for the season not lengthy after the sending off, changing a beautiful cross from Davide Bartesaghi. Nkunku additionally acquired his first of the season and as a Rossoneri participant early within the second half, then Christian Pulisic made positive of issues together with his fifth of 2025-26.

Marco Landucci took on the accountability of main from the dugout as Massimiliano Allegri served one more touchline ban, however he stored up his good document because the stand-in. Now, Lazio await within the final 16 for Milan, however what did we be taught from such a one-sided sport?

1. Warming up his engines

Nkunku acquired his first begin after becoming a member of Milan in the summertime and it ended up being a optimistic efficiency ultimately.

The striker missed a few respectable possibilities early on however redeemed himself with an acrobatic end that acquired him his first objective in purple and black. On high of the objective he was very energetic and was the rationale Lecce have been right down to 10 males.

The sport itself was in Milan’s management following the purple card however we noticed that the Frenchman is selecting up the tempo after Allegri mentioned he solely had 20 or half-hour in his legs just lately.

2. In the end

Gimenez has needed to wait 5 months since his final objective for Milan, and after struggling for confidence because the begin of the season lastly managed to get a objective to his title and Allegri might be hoping that this may present a a lot wanted confidence enhance and get the striker going.

Aside from the objective Gimenez didn’t present something spectacular as he even missed a few large alternatives, however the significance of him lastly scoring shouldn’t be underestimated as he clearly lacked confidence and the stress was mounting on him in latest weeks.

3. Stable as a rock

Following the purple card for Lecce, Milan had whole management over the sport so it’s not stunning that they achieved one more clear sheet, a fourth in a row. But, it’s nonetheless price highlighting how steady the again line has been and the way good Fikayo Tomori and Strahinja Pavlovic, specifically, have been.

This time round Koni De Winter began forward of Matteo Gabbia and did a ok job, while Davide Bartesaghi acquired the nod over Pervis Estupinan and acquired a beautiful help for Gimenez’s objective. He may have had a pair extra too however for wasteful ending.

In different phrases, it’s lucky that Milan are in such a optimistic defensive kind going into the sport in opposition to Napoli, one that’s shaping as much as be a vital sport regardless of the season being in an early stage.

#ACMilan beneath Massimiliano Allegri thus far:

➤ 5 wins in 6 video games➤ 5 clear sheets (4 in a row)➤ 12 targets scored➤ 2 targets conceded➤ Prime scorer: Pulisic (5 targets)

[via @SkySport] pic.twitter.com/YiLRUKEcRx

– Districts (@ACMMAPAPA) September 24, 2025

4. Combined midfield

Ruben Loftus-Cheek has had an fascinating begin to the season, and while his physicality has helped him rather a lot in duels in earlier sport he struggled to really produce something spectacular by way of passing or ball carrying.

In opposition to Lecce, nevertheless, he was reasonably unfortunate to not get a objective. He had a shot cleared off the road adopted by one other try that was simply vast, and he even hit the put up early within the second half. The general efficiency was encouraging as he even took a few males on, exhibiting his confidence.

Then, Ricci was within the reverse finish as he struggled to impose himself on the sport. You’ll’ve anticipated him to have the ability to achieve this simply given the numerical benefit Milan had, dictating the tempo within the regista function.

Regardless of a couple of respectable passes we didn’t see something price mentioning and the Italian should do rather a lot higher to get extra common minutes, particularly with Adrien Rabiot and Luka Modric already so necessary.

5. Youthful power

Zachary Athekame was launched within the second half, and regardless of it being exhausting for us to evaluate him given the sport scenario, we did see some positives in his cameo.

The Swiss confirmed good tempo and power while making runs down the flank and we noticed a flash of what he’s able to. He’s nonetheless simply 20 years of age and the potential, not less than bodily, is there. It’s over to Allegri to show the uncooked supplies right into a refined wing-back.

We additionally noticed a little bit of Cheveyo Balentien once more. The Dutchman continues to be 18 years outdated and regardless of him having performed restricted minutes we will see that by way of physicality he’s an fascinating profile.

He has the tempo and aptitude that’s thrilling, in addition to the body to utilize it, however the finish product just isn’t there but. It’s not too dissimilar to how Leao was firstly.

What’s promising to see is that the teenager just isn’t afraid to tackle gamers and attempt to make these direct runs, and he’ll be one other participant to observe because the season progresses.