AC Milan secured a crucial 1-0 win over Napoli on Sunday, with Olivier Giroud scoring the all-important goal to seal all three points.
After a stumble in recent weeks, the Rossoneri needed to respond in Naples to not only get back on track ourselves and lift confidence and belief, but also to deal a direct blow to a Scudetto rival.
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Both boxes were ticked with a gritty, tireless display that saw an instinctive reaction goal from Giroud split the two sides, and this is a result that Milan can now build on and go into the final 10 games of the Serie A season with renewed focus.
While our remaining games are all winnable ones on paper that we’ll be confident of coming out on top in, it’s against opposition lower in the table which is what we’ve struggled with again this season, and so Stefano Pioli will undoubtedly be guarding against complacency.
AC Milan player ratings vs Napoli:
Mike Maignan, 6.5 – Calm and commanding in his box when collecting, and produced some smart saves to deny Osimhen twice in the second half. Accurate with his distribution too.
Davide Calabria, 7 – Top defensive effort as he blocked Napoli’s progress down that flank through Insigne and Mario Rui. Pushed forward when possible too, and it was his shot, albeit a scuffed one, that was turned goal-ward by Giroud for the winning goal.
Pierre Kalulu, 7 – A brilliant performance as he used his pace, physicality and reading of the game well throughout to shut out Osimhen and made a key contribution to our clean sheet which set us up to win.
Fikayo Tomori, 7 – Similarly to Kalulu, his aggressive defensive style worked brilliantly in this one as Osimhen didn’t have time or space to cause as much of a threat as he’s capable of. Our defensive pairing worked well together and it’s hopefully a solid partnership that’s developing.
Theo Hernandez, 7 – Along with the rest of the backline, he carried out his defensive duties effectively and didn’t allow Napoli much success getting in behind down that left side. He also showcased his attacking quality at times too, and he should have had an assist with Saelemaekers missing a late chance.
Sandro Tonali, 6 – Not as influential as he has been this season as he couldn’t quite get going in possession in terms of shifting the ball forward quickly into key areas. However, he continued to battle hard to give us a foothold in the game.
Ismael Bennacer, 7.5 – Back to near his best. Bennacer was everywhere on Sunday night, applying pressure on Napoli in possession, breaking up play in midfield and setting us on our way up the field to attack. We haven’t seen him at this level for a while, but it’s a huge boost to see him having such an influence on games consistently again.
Messias Junior, 5.5 – Quiet game as he struggled to really test Mario Rui in what seemed like a favourable match-up that we could exploit. Lacked the quality needed to make the difference.
Franck Kessie, 6.5 – A strong display as he adapted to the No.10 role well in terms of his aggression off the ball to win possession back and force Napoli into mistakes. Tired as the game went on, but a positive outing that helped limit Napoli’s ability to hurt us through initially dominating possession and controlling the tempo.
Rafael Leao, 6 – Was a threat throughout with his pace and direct running, as he caused the hosts problems at times. However, he couldn’t quite find the end product on this occasion, as he was a little inaccurate with his final ball and wasn’t clinical with openings he had himself.
Olivier Giroud, 7 – Such a difficult task against two physical centre-halves, but he never stopped battling away up front to try and give us a target at the top of the pitch. Suffered a nasty looking cut to his ankle, but that didn’t stop him from producing the big moment of the game as he scored another crucial goal for us which proved to be the winning strike.
Substitutions:
Ante Rebic, 6 – Worked hard off the ball in the latter stages to try and press from the front and put Napoli under pressure. Lacked quality on the ball, but in the circumstances, he carried out the job required of him well.
Rade Krunic, 6 – A solid effort as he added fresh legs and more of a presence in midfield. Helped us see out the victory with more control in that area of the pitch.
Alessandro Florenzi, N/A
Alexis Saelemaekers, 5 – Should have killed the game off with a big chance at the end. Needs to be clinical and show more quality in the final third.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, N/A
