AC Milan crashed out of the Coppa Italia on Wednesday night after a 2-1 defeat to Atalanta at San Siro in our quarter-final clash.
Rafael Leao broke the deadlock for the Rossoneri after a well-worked goal with Theo Hernandez heavily involved, but the visitors struck back immediately to go into the break level.
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Teun Koopmeiners scored his second goal of the night from the penalty spot in the second half, and despite Milan pushing for a way back into the game until the end, we were unable to find a response of our own.
There were questionable officiating decisions for both Atalanta’s penalty and a late shout in our favour for a handball that undoubtedly proved to be decisive, but ultimately it was a bitterly disappointing performance that will once again raise question marks and build frustration.
AC Milan player ratings vs Atalanta:
Mike Maignan, 6 – Little he could have done for the opener as it was a good finish, and was well beaten on the penalty. Did well overall though and his distribution was accurate to start our build-up play.
Davide Calabria, 6 – Produced a stand-out block in the first half that prevented a potential goal, and put in a decent shift before being replaced on the hour mark.
Matteo Gabbia, 6 – Looked solid on his return to the starting line-up, as he was switched on defensively and kept things ticking over in possession. Disappointing to see him go off with a head injury, but hopefully it won’t sideline him for the weekend.
Theo Hernandez, 6 – Another positive effort as he fills in at centre-half, as he defended well and still managed to get forward and provide the assist for Leao’s goal. Unfortunate not to get us back into the game in the latter stages as he returned to his usual attacking role.
Alex Jimenez, 5 – Started the game well and looked to be positive on the ball, but struggled as things went on. The penalty decision seemed harsh as he got a touch on the ball, but it was still naive defending from the youngster prior to that as he got pushed back into that dangerous scenario.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek, 5.5 – Imposed himself well in the first half and made an impression on proceedings, but gradually became anonymous as he wasn’t able to impact our play enough.
Yunus Musah, 5 – Can’t fault his effort and desire, but didn’t have the quality to go with it. Only partly to blame for that though, as he shouldn’t have been receiving the ball in the areas that he did, as too much was expected of him in possession as we searched for a breakthrough. Energy and intensity dipped too which impacted his defensive effort.
Tijjani Reijnders, 5.5 – Similar to the rest of our midfield in that he started brightly, but his influence waned as we had plenty of possession and control, but did very little with it in terms of making a decisive impact on the game in attacking areas.
Christian Pulisic, 5.5 – Offered a threat and movement in the final third to cause problems for Atalanta, but again, another player who became less effective as the game went on and Milan had no structure or direction to prise their defence open.
Luka Jovic, 5 – Poor service and often left isolated up top in the box, but he didn’t help himself out either with a poor first touch and link up play as we couldn’t string things together in the final third.
Rafael Leao, 6 – Took his goal really well after good play with Theo, and he was our most effective attacking outlet once again. However, we can’t lean on him to do everything, as the more we rely on him, the more the opposition figure us out and nullify his threat.
Substitutes:
Simon Kjaer, 5.5 – Struggled to get up to the pace of the game after coming on as subsequently had difficult in trying to contain Atalanta’s attacking threat.
Filippo Terracciano, 6 – Showed good intensity and energy on his debut, and it will be something for him to build on despite the disappointing result.
Jan-Carlo Simic, 5.5 – Wasn’t overly involved in the latter stages but slotted in and added fresh legs at the back to keep the flow of the game going our way.
Yacine Adli, 5 – Didn’t push the tempo enough as we chased a way back into the tie. Needed him to be more prominent and influential in the role he was playing to help us find holes in Atalanta’s defensive block.
Olivier Giroud, 5 – Little he could have done other than a touch here or there to keep our moves flowing as the service wasn’t right to be more of a threat in the box.
