ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC continued his goalscoring run earlier today, as Milan beat Genoa 1-0.
Milan were the first team to threaten early on, Robinho hitting a low shot across goal in the 18th minute, however, it didn’t really trouble Genoa’s portugese goalkeeper – Eduardo.
Genoa looked to hit Milan on the counter, but it was nowhere near as effective against the Rossoneri as other team’s attempts to do so.
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This was mainly due to Massimiliano Allegri choosing a midfield 3 of Pirlo, Gattuso and Boateng, as Gattuso stayed back to defend, Pirlo created, and Kevin-Prince Boateng provided energy in the box to box role.
Despite this, Milan still didn’t make enough off the ball runs in the first half, although Gennaro Gattuso’s rare burst forward troubled the Genoa back 3 near the 30 minute mark.
It was Genoa that came the closest to scoring in the first half though, Rodrigo Palacio’s cross forcing Abbiatti to tip it on to the post in the 40th minute, and on the stroke of half time, the Italian performed a brilliant diving save from Chico’s header.
The Rossoneri upped their game in the second half, with Pirlo reversing his fortunes, and it took just 4 minutes of the second half for Milan to snatch the lead.
In the 49th minute, the deadlock was broken when Pirlo collected the ball deep, and launched a stunning long range ball which was perfectly weighted for Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Beating 2 Genoa defenders to the ball, he outstretched his long leg, and perfectly chipped it over the oncoming goalkeeper, who was helpless to stop it.
Ibrahimovic showed great strength and technique to finish his first and only real chance of the game, and his trademark goal once again showed his importance to the side.
The Rossoneri’s performance (particularly Robinho’s) improved drastically after Ronaldinho went off, the side semed to have more energy, better movement, and faster counter-attacks, despite them not having that much time to settle yet.
After a brilliant link up with Seedorf on the left flank, Robinho could – and possibly should – have given Milan a 2 goal cushion with 10 minutes to go, as his shot was cleared off the line by Domenico Cristico.
Seconds later, sub Mathieu Flamini could have played the ball to Ibrahimovic, who only had Eduardo to beat, but he instead opted to shoot, and missed badly.
As Full time drew near, Milan had 1 more chance to score, Mathieu Flamini once again blasting wildly over the bar after a counter attack lead by Robinho and Ibrahimovic resulted in him having a glorious chance to kill off the game.
Genoa rarely threatened at all after Milan’s goal, despite being the better side in the first half, and although it wasn’t a landslide victory, Massimiliano Allegri will be pleased to get back to winning ways, and it’s good to see Zlatan Ibrahimovic in good scoring form – things can keep getting better for Milan as the new signings settle in, but this is a good place to start.
Man of the Match: Gennaro Gattuso
Best Moment: Ibrahimovic’s goal
By Hefin Davies, Rossoneri Blog
Gattuso was inspiring, I love how he came off the pitch with such enthusiasm and spirit, willing all the others to continue in battle.
Great man, a true leader.
I think for Milan the recipe for success in midfield is this: We need at all times one box to box mid, one defensive mid, and one playmaker. If we don’t have at least one of each of those we will fail. Today we had all of them and our midfield had the right balance. Also if our midfield has a good balance then it won’t expose our o.k. back line. Our backline is the kind of backline that is good but if they don’t have support they will struggle. With support though we are solid in the back. Also… Read more »
Sorry, I wasn’t able to catch this game. But from the article, I guess Dinho coming off was a good thing. We cannot be static, and Dinho ruins the pace. He is like one of those 1-2 pass buddies, who does that all day long but stands still. Come on Dinho. If you don’t get your act together, Allegri will bench you and put Binho in your spot once Pato comes back. I’m sure Allegri already realized that you are being lazy. Take all his chances that he gives you, because all those chances will be limited. I know you… Read more »
Gattuso looks great again, but i don’t think he can do that for next week. Maybe Flamini will be a starter when we face Ajax. And i hope another rotation for Merkel or Strasser in midfield. Of course, i want to see Sokratis playing too. He can place as a MF. Overall, the team playing very good. Yeah it’s lack a little fitnes and patience, but i think they still have a lot of time to improve. Forza Milan!
pirlo ws bad!! very bad!! dont know what happend to him! half of his passes went to genoa players ! gattuso ws fantastic!! robinho struggled!! but it was his 1st 90 mins game! abate ws ok!
I see we have a lot of fans here who jump on the bandwagon, fine IBRA scored that doesnt mean he is AC Milan’s saviour. as a team everyone is working hard thats a good sign , but yet there should be mobility in the midfield, Gattuso running around and tackling is okay with Genoa but with bigger teams you need to be more sensible, good thing about having Dinho in the team keeps the opponent on tenter hooks so atleast 3 guys tend to stay closer to him , which makes room for others to move around and play… Read more »
@Ronnie2009 Yes Ibra still does not convince me. He needs to work harder. Good for him scoring that goal, but he needs to get back that instinct to score he had in Inter. Its not that he needs to score 100 goals, more that he needs to take a chance. He passes the ball when he could fight to score. It must have been the whole Barca pass it to messi thing. Dinho did well despite what people say. Compare to the previous games he was good. Binho also, he is almost there to recover completely. A win is a… Read more »
i did not see the match. have anyone check the players rating on milan vs genoa on http://www.goal.com? prasad said that pirlo was very bad but why he got 7.5 rating? on the other hand gattuso got 7.0 while KPB got 6.0. was pirlo really better than KPB during the match?
milan has spent 7mio for signing papa. what a waste that he cannot fill in the starting eleven.
having known that seedorf will leave milan, why does allegri keep utilizing him even for a substitute? why doesn’t allegri have guts to use other players like merkel to replace seedorf?
@TWf
i saw the whole match . . pirlo ws disaster though he is a champion! he didnt run well . most of the time was only standing .didnt pass well !! 50% of passes were gone to oponents!
on the other hand gattuso ran lyk a mustang! ws running all the time! shown some skills though he is old!
boateng was fine not that good!
i said it before . . shud not play all the 30+ midfeilders at the same time! play only one of them at a time….
midfeild was lacking pace and support!
the match was amazing.still i think milan need to change formation
Boateng looked a little jaded, but he showed a lot quality with touches, he is so good at keep the ball and keeps the play moving fast.
I still think he needs to be played centrally, but the balance in the mdfld was much better as somenoe noted. Boateng and Ibra seem to be on the same wavelength, this should be a good linking on the attack.
I don’t get it, some people say “ibra must work harder”? They can impossibly have seen the game vs Genoa, he literally puked on field after the game. Running as much as he did, moving around 98kg is really hard work.