AC Milan suffered a third consecutive defeat in the Champions League on Tuesday night, with Porto picking up a 1-0 win.
The Rossoneri failed to really apply any sustained pressure or create any major openings in a scrappy, hard-fought game that the hosts undoubtedly did more in to win it.
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As we now sit bottom of Group B with no points on the board and facing a real uphill task to advance to the knockout stage, Stefano Pioli will hope that we’ve got enough time and games left ahead to turn things around and put ourselves in contention.
Learning night for Milan
While it could be argued that we deserved more from our first two games having led against both Liverpool and Atletico Madrid, this was a polar opposite outing.
It was a night for reflection and learning for both Pioli and his squad, as we were outplayed for the most part and never really looked like getting into top gear to show our quality.
That is something that will come at this level as this young squad gains experience on how to better deal with these situations, and so it’s important we take away important lessons from the defeat and use them to continue to improve.
Lengthy list of absentees hurt us
There is no doubt that we were severely weakened this week due to absentees. Mike Maignan, Alessandro Florenzi, Theo Hernandez, Brahim Diaz, Franck Kessie and Ante Rebic were amongst those missing, and that’s a lot of experience and game-changing quality that was unavailable.
As we saw in the first two games, we gave two of the top sides in Europe a real test while at full-strength and so it’s crucial we get as many key individuals back as soon as possible.
We face Porto in the reverse fixture on November 3, and so that should certainly give us enough time to recover a number of those players named above, while hoping that there are no additional concerns that are raised between now and then.
Ballo-Toure concern
Milan clearly saw something in Fode Ballo-Toure to warrant signing him this past summer, but on the basis of what we’ve seen from him thus far, there is a long way to go for him to be considered a top level back-up option to Hernandez.
The 24-year-old struggled again in midweek just as he did against Verona last Saturday, and so there is a concern that if we lose Hernandez for any lengthy period of time moving forward, we’ll be vulnerable in that position.
That said, it’s far too early to completely write him off. In turn, it’s hoped that he improves and develops as the season goes on to justify why Milan decided to sign him.
Rossoneri now in must-win territory
Three games in and with no points on the board, Milan must now win our remaining games to have a chance of getting through to the knockout phase of the Champions League.
Liverpool lead the way with nine points from their three outings, while Atletico Madrid sit in second spot with four points as Porto are level with the Spanish giants but remain in third place on goal difference.
Should Milan secure a win over Porto next month and Liverpool see off Atleti at home, we’ll be right back in the mix and so time will tell if we can do our job at the very least next time out.
