AC Milan advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League on Tuesday night, with a 2-1 aggregate win over Napoli after a 1-1 draw in the second leg in Naples.
The Rossoneri held a slender lead from the first encounter with Ismael Bennacer’s strike splitting the two sides at San Siro, and so the tie was finely poised heading into the second meeting.
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Similarly to the first leg, Napoli started well and enjoyed sustained pressure for long periods, but Olivier Giroud’s first-half goal, which came after the Milan striker missed from the penalty spot, was a decisive moment and shifted the momentum in our favour.
Although we weren’t able to keep a clean sheet having conceded late on, it was a fine defensive performance to limit Napoli, and now we can look ahead to a return to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in 16 years.
AC Milan player ratings vs Napoli:
Mike Maignan, 8 – Another decisive performance between the posts as he was crucial throughout, but never more so with his penalty save to deny Kvaratskhelia. World class.
Davide Calabria, 8 – Did brilliantly to limit Kvaratskhelia. Defended with discipline and resilience from start to finish as he nullified Napoli’s danger man as much as possible with excellent patience, composure and reading of the game.
Simon Kjaer, 8 – A calming and imposing presence in the heart of the defence, used his experience well to marshal the backline. Did well to get across and support Calabria while also dealing with Osimhen’s threat too.
Fikayo Tomori, 7 – A good shift as although he wasn’t quite as reassuring as Kjaer next to him and conceded the penalty, he defended well and was no-nonsense in his approach to keep Napoli at bay.
Theo Hernandez, 7 – Had his hands full with Politano before he went off injured, but he improved from that point as he was able to push forward more too in order to add an attacking threat down the left side.
Sandro Tonali, 7 – Another important display in midfield as his work ethic and tenacity helped us break Napoli’s rhythm as the game went on and to give us a foothold in the encounter. Wasn’t able to dictate as much as we’ve seen him do, but a solid effort nonetheless.
Rade Krunic, 7.5 – Really smart performance as he was everywhere defensively to win back possession or force Napoli into mistakes, and he coupled that with composure and technical quality to give us a sense of control in midfield at times too.
Brahim Diaz, 6 – Did his job defensively to help out Calabria and that was vital in the early stages, but he lacked the same quality we saw from him in the first leg as he seemed to run into trouble too often and lose possession too easily.
Ismael Bennacer, 6.5 – Not his most influential game but still pivotal. Covered plenty of ground and was combative in the midfield scrap, although he couldn’t quite add quality on the ball to that to make it an all-round top individual performance.
Rafael Leao, 8 – A simply stunning run to unlock Napoli’s defence and showed great composure to then spot Giroud and put it on a plate for him for our goal. A decisive moment in the game, and he continues to lead our charge with moments of magic while always offering a threat with his pace and directness.
Olivier Giroud, 7 – Poor penalty in truth given his usual standards, and he’ll be frustrated he couldn’t finish a big opportunity soon after that either. However, as he has done on so many previous occasions, popped up with a decisive goal yet again and worked tirelessly up top to give us a target and presence in the final third to hold it up and link play together.
Substitutes:
Junior Messias, 6 – Added fresh legs in the latter stages and although he could have defended better in certain situations, did his job to help us see out the game.
Divock Origi, 5.5 – Was limited by Napoli’s sustained pressure which meant we couldn’t really play to his strengths on the counter, but gave us more energy towards the end of the game.
Alexis Saelemaekers, N/A