AC Milan continued their impressive start to the Serie A season with a battling 2-1 win over Roma at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday night.
The Rossoneri took the lead through a superb free-kick from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, while a Franck Kessie penalty doubled our lead in the second half as we looked set to secure another excellent win.
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A late goal for the hosts did set up a tense finish, but ultimately Stefano Pioli’s men were able to hold on as we move back level at the top of the Serie A table with our 10th win in 11 league games thus far.
AC Milan player ratings vs Roma:
Ciprian Tatarusanu, 7 – Produced some decisive saves to keep Roma at bay, particularly late on. Not always convincing, but continues to make key stops.
Davide Calabria, 6.5 – Continuing to show great maturity and solidity. Another important shift as he defended well when called upon.
Simon Kjaer, 7 – A top-class defensive display from the Danish stalwart, as he stood strong in the face of Roma pressure to marshal the backline well and almost got a deserved clean sheet.
Fikayo Tomori, 6.5 – A solid shift that was almost equal to that of his defensive partner Kjaer. Used his pace and aggressiveness well to limit Roma in the final third and in our own box.
Theo Hernandez, 5 – A threat on the counter attack with his pace and did well overall defensively. However, he soured his night with the red card which will now see him miss the Derby della Madonnina against Inter next weekend.
Franck Kessie, 7 – Showed great composure to tuck away his penalty and double our lead. Gave us a foothold in the game with his physicality in midfield, a solid overall performance.
Ismael Bennacer, 7 – An excellent display as he set the tempo in midfield at times with his tenacity off the ball and his calmness and technical quality on it. A key reason behind the win.
Alexis Saelemaekers, 6 – Shame to see him have to come off due to the tweak after Hernandez’s red card, as he had put in a solid shift with his work ethic and caused problems for Roma with his movement in between the lines.
Rade Krunic, 6 – As expected, he continues to offer an important physical and tireless presence behind the frontman, but lacks the quality to make a key difference in the final third. Did his role well though.
Rafael Leao, 6.5 – Battled really hard to continue to be a nuisance for the Roma defence and did his fair share of defensive work too in order to help us protect our lead.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 7 – A decisive performance from the veteran with his brilliant free-kick goal adding icing to the cake. Such a shame to see one of his superb efforts ruled out for offside, while he won the penalty that proved to be crucial. A dominant display from our attacking stalwart.
Substitutions:
Olivier Giroud, 6 – Couldn’t do much as Milan went into defensive mode for the most part after he came on. Did his best to try and hold the ball up and kill time.
Fode Ballo-Toure, 6 – Held up his flank after coming on to keep things tight albeit didn’t do as well keeping the ball and going forward.
Sandro Tonali, 6 – Carried out his role really well in the latter stages. Brought on to add fresh legs and fight in midfield, and did that to help us see out the win.
Alessio Romagnoli, 6 – Came on to help shore things up defensively and did his job well as he produced some important interventions and clearances to protect our lead.
Tiemoue Bakayoko, 6 – Similarly to Tonali but not quite as effective, he added physicality in midfield to protect the backline.
