On Sunday night at San Siro, AC Milan triumphed 3-1 over AS Roma within the twentieth spherical of the Serie A marketing campaign.
Yacine Adli (11′), Olivier Giroud (56′) and Theo Hernandez (84′) had been heading in the right direction for the Rossoneri, whereas a lone penalty strike from Leandro Paredes (69′) barely eased the ache of one other defeat for the guests.
The groups
Milan head coach Stefano Pioli deployed his crew in his common 4-3-3 form, with Mike Maignan in purpose, fullbacks Davide Calabria and Hernandez flanking the centre-back duo of Simon Kjaer and Matteo Gabbia, Adli anchoring the midfield with Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders shut by, and Giroud upfront supported by Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao.
Curiously sufficient, Pioli has 4 centre-backs unavailable for choice by way of varied damage issues, particularly Pier Kalulu, Malick Thiaw, Fikayo Tomori and Mattia Caldara, in addition to right-back Alessandro Florenzi and midfielder Tommaso Pobega. Midfielder Ismael Bennacer and winger Samuel Ckuwueze are away representing Algeria and Nigeria, respectively, on the Africa Cup of Nations.
Roma’s most notable absentee was head coach Jose Mourinho. The controversial Portuguese was pressured to observe the sport from the stands, having obtained two yellow playing cards and a consequent crimson in his crew’s 1-1 draw towards Atalanta the week earlier than. His assistant Salvatore Foti was due to this fact in command within the away dugout.
In a relatively curious transfer by the Roma workers, Rui Patricio, normally the first-choice goalkeeper, was left on the bench to make manner between the posts for Mile Svilar. Diego Llorente, Gianluca Mancini and Rasmus Kristensen shaped the again line of three. Edoardo Bove and Bryan Cristante stored near Paredes in the course of the park, whereas Leonardo Spinazzola and Zeki Celik held the flanks as wing-backs. Ufront, former Milan ahead Stephan El Shaarawy paired up with Romelu Lukaku.
Like Milan, Roma additionally had a lot of absentees for this recreation. Defenders Chris Smalling and Marash Kumbulla, midfielder Renato Sanches, and forwards Paulo Dybala and Tammy Abraham, missed out by way of damage. Defender Evan Ndicka (Ivory Coast) and midfielder Houssem Aouar (Algeria) are on the AFCON, and Sardar Azmound is representing Iran on the Asian Cup.
The sport
Although Roma truly had the larger possession share on the finish of the match (52%), there may be no actual dialogue over Milan deserving their victory. Not like the guests from the capital, the Rossoneri truly performed soccer, created probabilities and confirmed not solely high quality on the ball, but additionally much more want to assault and rating than their opponents. As soon as Adli broke the impasse, Roma by no means actually seemed like getting again stage.
With out Dybala, Roma’s attacking line was uncharacteristically blunt, and although Milan’s again line didn’t precisely shine on a number of events, they merely couldn’t damage the hosts correctly. And in the event that they did discover a method to hit the goal, there was nonetheless the brilliance of Maignan to beat.
Pioli’s males had been very affected person of their attacking strategy. Minute 10 was expiring when Calabria gained the ball in Roma’s half, extensive on the best. Pulisic took in on charged into the center, earlier than involving Leao on the sting of the field. The Portugal worldwide made a poor first contact however his teammates corrected his mistake instantly, and he was given one other likelihood to assault from the left. His cross was briefly cleared however Milan picked the ball up once more, and Reijnders ultimately gave it to Adli who offered a dummy to Kristensen, earlier than firing low into the underside nook.
As Roma tried to rally and go for an equalizer, house opened up for Milan’s pacey attackers to take advantage of, and within the twenty seventh minute, Pulisic broke by way of the center and blasted from round 20 yards, forcing a superb save from Svilar. Roma’s solely actual likelihood of the primary half occurred three minutes later, when some good attacking play from Lukaku and Cristante received Celik into a superb place to shoot, however Maignan reacted in a short time to get down and divert the shot extensive of the submit.
Within the thirty seventh minute, it was Pulisic who threatened Svilar once more, however his free header from a Leao cross went extensive this time. A scarcity of attacking concepts for Roma led to Paredes attempting his luck from distance straight after, however the Argentina worldwide couldn’t preserve the shot low sufficient because it whizzed over the bar. Spinazzola did rather a lot higher with a low highly effective effort from larger distance, however Maignan was equal to the duty once more.
The opening minutes of the second half noticed Milan apply excessive urgent and repeatedly win the ball within the opposition half, and ultimately, a cross by Theo Hernandez in direction of the again submit was headed throughout by Kjaer, and Giroud made essentially the most of it by nodding in from shut vary to set the competition, because it appeared, properly past Roma’s attain.
Pulisic might’ve made it three quickly after however he slipped at a vital second, and towards all odds, Roma had been quickly again within the recreation. A low move from the again was obtained properly by Lukaku on the sting of the field, and he laid it on for the incoming substitute Lorenzo Pellegrini, who was fouled by Calabria simply as he entered the penalty space. Referee Marco Guida was very decisive as he blew the whistle and pointed to the spot, and the slow-motion footage confirmed the decision as the right one. Paredes stepped up and scored to present his crew some hope.
Within the 76th minute, Lukaku and Pellegrini mixed in the identical manner once more. Lukaku’s broad shoulders held off Gabbia on the sting of the field and Pellegrini fired low, however all they contrived was to present Maignan one other likelihood to shine.
Out of nowhere, the Giallorossi had begun believing they could but get one thing from this recreation, however their hopes had been simply as abruptly extinguished with simply over six of the 90 minutes left. Hernandez broke down the left, performed a improbable one-two with Giroud, and blasted the ball off the underside of the crossbar into the web. His run and Giroud’s intelligent back-heel flick fully bamboozled the Roma defence, and there was nothing Svilar might do.
Desk rankings
These three factors have taken Milan’s tally as much as a complete of 42 from 21 matches, which has them in third place behind Inter (51) and Juventus (46). Given the shape Inter have proven this season, it’s very doubtless that it’s too late for Milan to get severely concerned within the Scudetto race. The Rossoneri will most likely have to just accept simply making the Champions League locations as a extra reasonable purpose for the season, one that basically shouldn’t be too exhausting to realize.
As for Roma, they’ve dropped to ninth place with 29 factors, however although it could appear they’re not concerned within the top-four contest, they very a lot are. With 18 rounds left to play, solely 5 factors separate them from Fiorentina in fourth and Atalanta in fifth, whereas Bologna and Napoli sit in between with respective tallies of 32 and 31.
Nonetheless, Mourinho and his males have to discover a manner to enhance their type in the event that they’re to even hope to complete inside the highest 4. This recreation marks their third defeat within the final 4 league video games, the one level they earned in that span coming from a 1-1 draw towards Atalanta.