AC Milan were held to a 2-2 draw by Salernitana on Saturday night with our goals coming from Messias Junior and Ante Rebic.
The Rossoneri took an early lead as we made a bright start to the game, with Messias latching on to a great pass from Theo Hernandez after one of his trademark bursting runs from defence, with his teammate producing a composed finish.
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However, after an otherwise lacklustre and poor performance, goals from Federico Bonazzoli and Milan Duric turned things around as the hosts took a lead with just over 15 minutes remaining, but fortunately for Milan, Rebic was on hand to rescue a point for us.
While results elsewhere have gone in our favour this weekend, it’s still frustrating that Milan didn’t collect maximum points from this fixture. We can ill-afford these kind of slip-ups given what is at stake, and while it has cost us time and time again in recent years, it remains to be seen if it will once more this season.
AC Milan player ratings vs Salernitana:
Mike Maignan, 5 – One of his poorest displays since joining us as he struggled to show composure and control in his box, both when claiming balls into his area as well as with the ball at his feet. Made mistakes, some of which proved costly, others he was lucky to escape unscathed.
Davide Calabria, 5.5 – Had a difficult evening going up against Franck Ribery, and he’ll be disappointed he wasn’t able to dominate that particular duel more convincingly as he’s still looking to rediscover his best form on a consistent basis.
Fikayo Tomori, 5.5 – Guilty of poor defending for the goals as he lost his marker Djuric for the second, while he was uncharacteristically sloppy in possession along with the rest of his teammates.
Alessio Romagnoli, 5 – Equally to blame for poor defending as his partner in the middle, as he struggled with one-on-one situations and wasn’t tight enough to prevent Salernitana from creating their goals. A tough night for our captain too.
Theo Hernandez, 6 – Started brilliantly as he provided the assist for our opening goal with a great run forward and pass, but it didn’t last. Influence faded as the game went on and as Milan became increasingly sloppy, while his runs weren’t rewarded with the right ball to him at the right times as his teammates were too slow and safe with their passing.
Sandro Tonali, 6 – Continues to stand tall even when those around him are struggling. Has discovered the necessary grit, determination and the mentality to dominate midfield battles, and he never shies away from that fight which is so important for us even in games like this where we’re nowhere near our best.
Ismael Bennacer, 5 – Poor from Bennacer as he struggled to set the tempo and tone for us in midfield, while he picked up a yellow card and was eventually replaced at half-time. Inconsistency an issue, but more generally he’s still not back to his best yet and we need him to be on his game week in and week out.
Messias Junior, 6 – Good movement and great finish to break the deadlock. Those are the moments that we need him to produce to make a decisive contribution in games, as ultimately he struggles to have much of an influence on our play over the course of the 90 minutes.
Brahim Diaz, 5 – His poor form continues as the Spaniard just can’t rediscover the form that he showed at the start of the season. Never mind goals and assists, he can’t get going with his dribbling or creative passes either as he’s struggling to have any kind of positive impact on our attacking play.
Rafael Leao, 5 – After being so important to our attack in recent months, this was a hugely frustrating performance. Had seemingly showed he’s matured and developed his game to be an effective outlet on that left wing consistently, but made wrong decisions and lacked any real cutting edge in the final third. These are games where his pace, creativity and finishing must be a devastating influence for us.
Olivier Giroud, 5.5 – Scrapped throughout as the focal point of the attack, but had very little success. Lacked a goalscoring threat himself and couldn’t bring others into play, although he did produce the layoff that set Rebic up to grab an equaliser.
Substitutions:
Franck Kessie, 5.5 – An improvement on Bennacer in the second half, but still not the physically dominating and tone-setting figure that we’re used to seeing in midfield. It remains to be seen how much Pioli continues to lean on him with his future very much up in the air still.
Ante Rebic, 6 – Top strike to level things up, and it’s an important moment for him and Milan if he can find some form and go on a run of goals and assists between now and the end of the season, as he has done in the past. Rebic tends to step up in the second half of the campaign, and Milan could certainly do with that again this year.
Alessandro Florenzi, 6 – A positive effort off the bench as he added more energy and a direct threat with his crosses into the box.
Alexis Saelemaekers, 5 – Didn’t offer a great deal and didn’t particularly influence the way the game went in the closing stages.