AC Milan secured a 4-1 win over Cagliari at San Siro on Sunday night, with the returning fans treated to an excellent performance from the Rossoneri.
Goals from Sandro Tonali, Rafael Leao and a brace from Olivier Giroud sealed the victory, as Milan made it two wins in two to start the new Serie A season ahead of the international break.
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It was an enthralling encounter, particularly in the first half, with Milan playing with great intensity, tempo and fluidity to break Cagliari down and score four goals before the break.
Naturally, there were some stand-out performance across the pitch in the win, with Giroud leading the way.
Milan player ratings vs Cagliari
Mike Maignan, 6.5 – Beaten by a good finish for Cagliari’s goal, but was otherwise commanding in the box and alert when called upon. Will be disappointed to have conceded but he’s looking settled and confident already.
Davide Calabria, 6.5 – A battling performance from our captain as he dug in and scrapped to help give us control of the game. Did well defensively on the whole and got forward when possible to try and offer an attacking threat too.
Simon Kjaer, 6.5 – Solid shift from our defensive stalwart, will be disappointed with the manner of the goal scored by the visitors but played his part in keeping Cagliari relatively quiet throughout in front of goal.
Fikayo Tomori, 6.5 – Similar to Kjaer in that he did well to keep things fairly tight from start to finish, with the key difference being his style in terms of being aggressive and on the front foot to force Cagliari away from goal as much as possible.
Theo Hernandez, 6 – Improvement on his performance at Sampdoria and certainly put in a good display, but given his high standards, hasn’t quite find his best form yet and will no doubt become more influential in the weeks ahead. His run was key though in opening things up for our third goal.
Rade Krunic, 6.5 – Did an important job in front of the defence as he offered protection in front of them and broke play up well. It’s ultimately highly unlikely he keeps his place in the side as Ismael Bennacer and Franck Kessie return to full health, but he’s doing his bit really well for now.
Sandro Tonali, 7.5 – There are some really positive early signs from Tonali this season as he looks more confident, stronger and fitter. He wants the ball more and is showing more quality with it at his feet, while he scored a superb free-kick to kick-start our night. Promising signs.
Alexis Saelemaekers, 7 – A scrappy and hard-working performance as ever, as the Belgian winger did well off the ball with his pressure and offered an outlet on the right whenever possible too as he linked play up smartly in an attacking sense too.
Brahim Diaz, 7.5 – Similarly to Tonali, the Spanish playmaker looks to be growing in confidence, belief, strength and fitness as he’s making things happen in the final third. Grabbed an assist for our third goal and Giroud’s first, putting in a perfectly weighted through-ball for the Frenchman to stroke home first time.
Rafael Leao, 7 – Lively performance as he used his strength and pace well to get into dangerous situations. Certainly an improvement on his efforts last season, but he’s still lacking that killer touch in the final third, be it a goal or an assist. That said, our second was eventually credited to him despite the big deflection off Brahim Diaz.
Olivier Giroud, 8.5 – A brilliant first outing at San Siro. Showed his class and technical quality with his ability to link up play and bring others into dangerous areas, before scoring a wonderful first goal with a first-time curling effort into the corner of the net while his penalty was clinical as he finished with a double.
Substitutes
Ante Rebic, 6 – Decent showing as he worked hard after coming on and went close with a lovely effort which went just over the bar.
Alessandro Florenzi, 6 – Added fresh legs and experience in the latter stages down the right side, shoring things up on that flank to ensure we avoided any late drama.
Ismael Bennacer, 6 – Great to see him get more minutes as he builds his fitness back up after his Covid-related spell out. Will hopefully be ready to start after the international break as he showed he can do the defensive work but offers more quality in the transition into attack.
Daniel Maldini, N/A
Samu Castillejo, N/A