Team news: Milan were without Theo Hernández, Diego Laxalt, Franck Kessié and Lucas Paquetá. Kickoff time for the third and final 2019 International Champions Cup game was 18:30 CEST / Italy time at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
Goals: Rashford (14′), Suso (26′), Castillejo (60′), Lingard (72′)
Penalties: Çalhanoğlu (goal), Lingard (goal), Bonaventura (goal), Young (goal), André Silva (goal), Green (goal), Krunić (goal), Gomes (goal), Maldini (saved), James (goal).
Manchester United F.C. (4-2-3-1) – Ole Gunnar Solskjær
David de Gea; Aaron Wan-Bissaka (64′ Ashley Young), Victor Lindelöf, Marcos Rojo (64′ Axel Tuanzebe), Luke Shaw; Nemanja Matić (64′ Fred), Scott McTominay; Andreas Pereira (64′ Daniel James), Juan Mata (64′ Jesse Lingard), Marcus Rashford (81′ Angel Gomes); Anthony Martial (81′ Mason Greenwood).
Unused: Romero, Grant, Jones, Smalling, Dalot, Chong.
AC Milan (4-3-1-2) – Marco Giampaolo
Gianluigi Donnarumma (63′ Pepe Reina); Davide Calabria (77′ Andrea Conti), Mateo Musacchio (77′ Ivan Strinić), Alessio Romagnoli (77′ Matteo Gabbia), Ricardo Rodríguez; Fabio Borini (76′ Marco Brescianini), Lucas Biglia (63′ Rade Krunić), Hakan Çalhanoğlu; Suso (77′ Giacomo Bonaventura); Samu Castillejo (63′ André Silva), Krzysztof Piątek (77′ Daniel Maldini).
Unused: A. Donnarumma, Mionić, Leão.
Referee: Iwan Griffith (WEL)
Leao
Yes he is there already with the team
What’s with the Borini deal? Is the dude world class or is it just average coaches who think he is that good to be starting for a team like Milan? Don’t tell me he works hard and all that Jazz. Dude has no talent. He is tasteless like water. He is a blunt axe that could never chop down a tree. How bad is Borini? He is so average that if he went to the best teams in the world, the teams will become average. CR and Messi will turn average over night because when they see Borini they lose… Read more »
I’ve been saying that milan should PAY other club just to take him away.
I don’t give a sh*t about his work rate blah blah blah.
The only positive thing i could think of is Milan playing borini to try to attract other club to get him
Borini played well last night. He has established himself as a mezzala.
already…. this team concede goals so easily. I mean you just have to run at them.. its embaressing
We indeed need reinforcement for CB. Rasford’s goal happened because of poor marking from Musa
Milan need someone stronger than Biglia to stop the opponent’s attacking flow. Imo, it is the top priority before the market is closed. If Leo Duarte or Theo Hernandez could play as a DM and destroyer in the heart of our midfield, i would pick one of them as a starter.
Why not trying Strinic-Romagnoli instead of Musa-Romagnoli in the heart of our defense?
That’s even worst. Gabbia is better than both Strinic and Musacchio. Sigh
Because they’re both left footed
Calabria didn’t exactly shine in that goal either.
Sadly Milan traded him for Djalo who will someday be the best CB in the world if he stays healthy and given time to prove himself at Lille. There is still the old notion of favouritism and Nostalgia about Italia players. Like Gazidis said, that has to totally be eradicated. Sadly there is bits of that in Milan.
How bout Calabria? I see no reason u blaming musachio.
Did you see Conti? He was a almost a disaster. He could was losing composure and balance all the time.
Yeah, Musacchio has conceded at least 4 goals like last season. He allows the opponent to shot and score. Do some searching you will see. This why I believe Milan is not in a good position towards success unless the very obvious things change quickly.. They keep featuring the very bad players who do harm to the team. Musacchio has been terrible sadly no one talks about it. And he keeps playing. I just hope that Duarte steps in sooner and outperforms Musacchio who hasn’t been his old self since his injury. I feel he is mentally scared of tackling… Read more »
Ar, so you started this and they all followe. How was Musacchio gonna mark a striker who started running from far away?? Rasford was playing on the wing so it’s not for a CB to mark him, otherwise you would say Musacchio is leaving his position to go marking on the wing!. If anything Calabria should be taking the bigger blame but it can happen to be once beaten by a tricky player in a match. The ball was unfortunately deflected too. Was a regular goal that teams concede
Really musa did u see that goal at least what about Calabria whom he dribble past by like he wasn’t even there
I can’t watch the match guys ,score ,how Milan is playing ?
great, its been a long time since we are dominatimg the match
hello guys…..any live streaming channel
I really like how Milan played at first half. Wow, Milan looked like Barcelona. Very confident in ball control and dominating. Except Musa’s poor marking to Rasford and not good enough of Samu as striker. Suso scored and almost gave assist to Piatek but as trequartista he should involved in playmaking role more
I agree. Milan show good quality in the first half but the second half wasn’t as good probably because of our youngsters who are still developing. But speaking of Suso, he is not creative enough as a playmaker or setting up vertical passes which to allow allow our strikers to make those diagonal runs. He just wants to camp on the right wing and make passes without having to run much. With Suso, it hard to defend against Milan. Just sit back and wait for the cross. If you did this with the old Milan Defence of Cafu, Maldini, Nesta… Read more »
Suso is fantastic. So much better playing in the middle. Mussachio terrible. Biglia is so slow but holds the ball great. Borini the tank. Not much else
Face it Suso has the Guti effect. How can a player have so much quality but never grows to be truly world class. Suso=Guti Both had quality and both were lazy. And never fullly fulfilled their potential. I have been saying this for 3 years now. Suso is a set back. His team mates can not get any better playing with with him. Hopefully Paquetá, Leão, Bennacer and Hernández will give us more channels to attack that the boring and predictable Suso crosses from the side. That has been our game plan for years. Gattuso a tactical identity at first… Read more »
Milan are clearly the better team after the equalizer.
Too bad castilejo is a disappointment.
I hope leao get a chance in 2nd half.
I am so excited about this Milan team now, i can’t wait to see how good will they be after bennacer join and a couple of reinforcement.
To me the best signing of this mercato is Giampaolo
@Lando… I second that. I hope that we keep Suso, Kessie and Calhanoglu though. Too many rumors about them being sold.
If milan really want correa i’m afraid they have to sell suso.
I don’t think suso would want to be a second option.
I still hope they can offload the likes or borini, laxalt and castilejo instead
I thought Andre Silva is the player Milan is trying to offload to raise funds for Correa? At least that’s what I’ve read online.
I highly doubt, especially after Suso’s performance in the preseason games in a “new” position that Milan will sell him this summer.
Milan should not even consider selling Suso, Calhanoglu, Kessie and Biglia-(experience backup for Bennacer).
However, Castillejo, Andre Silva, Laxalt, Musacchio and Borini should all be sold.
The only issue with Suso is his contract renewal. I believe he wants a 3m salary.
yes nick… what i meant is that if milan get correa, that would limit suso play time since apparently correa would be the first choice.
then he might consider to leave the team, you know he’s been milan’s star player for several seasons so it might hurt his pride to be a second choice
Correa is more of a 2nd striker even though he can possibly play as a trequartista. Suso will be our starting trequartista. The reason Milan signed Rafael Leo and are still attempting to sign Correa is because Andre Silva will be sold. I also think Castellijo and Laxalt will also leave. Once Milan sign Correa I think we will try to sign a big player like Modric. That’s just my opinion though but I doubt Suso, Biglia, and Calhanoglu will leave this summer. Our team will be balanced because we will have at least 2 quality players for each position… Read more »
I agree. I prefer milan to keep suso and kessie.
And call me crazy but the last 30 minutes of the game i think calha done a decent job as regista.
So indeed milan players can now play multiple positions which is very good.
Man i can’t wait to see leao, bennacer, kessie and paqueta play under giampaolo
@Lando…Totally agree. Calhanoglu was pretty good as a regista. I read Giampaolo’s post match comments and he praised Suso, Biglia and Calhanoglu. Giampaolo said that he told Milan management that Suso is an important player and he intends to keep him. He praised Calhanoglu for being able to play anywhere in midfield. He also gave props to Biglia for controlling the tempo of the game. I don’t think these players will leave and I just hope the same goes for Kessie. I don’t see any reason for Milan to keep Castillejo though. To be honest, we don’t need him as… Read more »
Castilejo was signed cos Villa owed us money and we needed to collect. Same reason we signed Laxalt. Don’t know how true but that’s the gist I remember hearing from Milan management
Lando I hope you will have the courage to let Suso go. Trust me Milan will Radically change for good without Suso. Especially if Correa proves the critics wrong. We would have more urgency and everyone would be more involved in penetrating attacks from all areas of the opposition half. With Suso its hard to do that. He doesn’t get involved off the ball because he hates running. The conseque of this is that Piatek would be starved and offered one option only. Let’s just wait for Suso to cross maybe I will score. That kind of play won’t take… Read more »
Great analysis Nick, very insightful. I hope Kessie is kept too. I’m actually gradually changing my opinion on Andre Silva as well, I think he may be a player worth holding on to, now that Cutrone is gone.
I was thinking the same thing about Andre Silva but it looks certain that he will leave as Milan are pushing hard to sign Correa and they need the money from Andre Silva transfer to close that deal.
So I think his faith may have already been sealed with a move away from the San Siro.
It would be better for Milan if Bith Suso and Kessie left. Then Calhanoglu would blossom. Suso is crippling the offensive players development.
Too bad Lando you don’t truly understand Football. Castillejo has all the ingredients to do well as a build-up striker and even Leao or CR couldn’t do much. Why? Because Suso is the problem. To build up play effectively in the opponent half, the offensive players must be proactive and mobile (intersecting runs to create space). This creates better scoring opportunities for the second striker. The first offensive link up player to create space is the AM, Suso. But Suso never does that, he is not able to do that. He is neither creating space with his dribbles, runs or… Read more »
actually if you watch the match suso has been trying to provide assist from build up play.
it was castilejo who didn’t give much contribution apart from his goal.
even though i still understand that he wasn’t a second striker in the first place.
same case with suso, this is his first official season where he was tried in the trequatista role.
some players need time to adjust to their new role.
i am not suso fans, i was only giving credit where credit is due
Lots of positives in the first half. Milan dominating Man United and we are also behind them on fitness and we are not even playing with our starting 11. Castellijo, Musacchio, Biglia, RicRod and Borini definitely will not be in our starting 11. Wow. And Suso is adapting so well to the trequartista position. Match Stats: Possession: Milan 63% Man United 37% Pass Accuracy: Milan 90% Man United 83% Passes: Milan 376 Man United 220 I can see Giampaolo’s high pressing game and tactics and it’s beautiful to watch. We are winning back the ball and dictating the play. Man… Read more »
63% of worthless and toothless possession. 376 passes in which 200 were between the back four. High pressing? Do you actually know what that means? Only Castillejo, Borini and Suso ran without the ball. MU didn’t felt like playing at all, it seemed like the tactics where like, “Milan will touch and eventually make a silly mistake and then we will run” MU didn’t care about pressing they just parked the bus and waited for the ball that eventually came right at their feet’s. Beautiful to watch? Boring as fuck, almost felt asleep with all those horizontal passes nonsense, even… Read more »
lol raven i think you watched milan game from last season
I’m loving your statistical analysis Nick, cheers. All you’re lacking now is some Suracho-esque prophesy skills lol.
Duarte to be better than Musacchio.. Dream on.. Not this season anyways. And you want to keep Kessie who can’t control a ball
Atleast those people complaining after our first 2 matches can now see what we see to say this team will perform wonders. Thanks to maldini for listening to sacchi in chosing Giampaolo. What a coach! First half we dominated man utd completely .
Forza milan
45min: (Disclaimer: Yes, Yes, meaningless match and many of our new purchases are missing):
– Terrible defending on the goal from our right side (Calabria and Musa)
– don’t like Suso as a AM; he’s just not a playmaker.
– if we stick to the diamond midfield, I guess we do have to keep Biglia (even if bennacour will be great there); I’m certainly the least of his fans in the last two seasons, but he’s the only one in midfield who really seems to know how to play in the regista.
Suso scored a beautiful equalizer from the AM position and he has been providing some nice thru passes in all the preseason games.
If we had a better striker instead of Castillejo we would have won the last 2 games from Suso assists but yet you don’t think he’s good in that position?
I appreciate your opinion on this blog but I honestly don’t get it. Why do you think Suso is not good in that position?
All his stats so far as an AM looks good and even commentators acknowledge him for adapting naturally to that position.
Nick, let me try to elaborate- 1. Suso basically had a free kick from the middle; RicRod for instance could also score such chances, so let’s put him AM. 2. Suso himself drifts to the right to his old position, throughout several minutes of the match, because he knows that’s where he’s most dangerous. 3. A playmaker in heart demands the ball at every play; Suso’s mentality is different as his game is different. 4. He’s not so good with his back to goal; we won’t see any of Kaka’s famous 180 spins with him. 5. Too slow with the… Read more »
@Baresis Dream… I hear you mate but don’t forget that it takes time to adapt to a new role.
Suso is making good progress in such a short time and he will get better with each game.
So I think the criticism on Suso as a trequartista is a little bit harsh. Just saying. He needs time to adapt.
Besides my opinion this is what Giampaolo thinks of Suso: “Suso is world-class. I told him and the club that. Suso isn’t a problem for us. We must keep our best players.”
Taking in consideration Suso plays in that position for less than a month, I think he’s fantastic.
Totally agree
Dubfire, I’m not taking into consideration anything- this is not a developmental club. Suso has to be ready, on fire, in less than a month.
I agree absolutely with you. Biglia is the HEART of our midfield. We dont need kessie at all
Yep; Biglia seems the only one who understands how to distribute possession.
Baresis Dream, have to disagree with Biglia, if you mean distribution like the 30 minutes of horizontal passes the whole team displayed then yes, he is perfect for that approach.
Biglia doesn’t make himself available, usually ge is good at this so IDK if its the new tactics or a fitness issue.
But yeah… Considering FFP we should keep him.
Who thought Rino is a coach, they should take a look how we play after 3 games with Giampaolo with pretty much the same players.
Exactly. I wouldn’t have even hired Gattuso to coach the Primavera.
@dejan10… I have to agree with you on that. I was surprised, dumbfounded and shocked when Milan appointed Gattuso. I respect him as a legend but his coaching (tactics and gameplan) is for amateurs.
When Gattuso was hired I then realize that Mirabelli and Fassone were two idiots from Inter.
Spot on. I don’t “hate” him as people keep claiming, he’s just one of the most useless coaches we’ve ever had.
oh man i can name you a few who thought of that
but thank god in only 3 matches giampaolo has already proven what a real coach can do
giampaolo is milan’s best mercato this season
Ah, the wonderfully short memory of youth – you seem to forgot Milan went toe-to-toe in the preseason with Real f’ing Madrid when Inzagi was at the helm; same with Bayern Munich and Montella.
This is not to defend Gatusso or trash Giampaolo- this is just to throw some water in your face so you wake up and be prepared for the disappointment.
@Baresis Dream thanks, faith in Rossoneriblog restored
short memory indeed to forget how awful milan play last term
Thanks Lando we still need more criticism of Gattuso keep on.
thanks Raven we still need fans who defend Gattuso keep on
I’m not talking about the past dude, its you that keep bringing it on.
oh really? i can still remember the crybaby who bashed on giampaolo long after gattuso was gone
hypocrite
Wanna make it personal because we don’t agree? Grow up, this website is a BLOG meant to discuss. I won’t speak anymore about last season until we complete the 2019-2020 so we have a somewhat fair comparison.
You are the one who need to grow up you are nothing but a smartass kid who thinks he knows it all
Both of the goals are conceded from borini-calabria-musa area.
I hope kessie/bennacer and duarte will be able to solve the problem
My opinions after watching the game: 1. Our Attack is still toothless. We didn’t create enough chances. Hoping this will change once we get Paqueta, Kessie and Bennacer in the team. 2. Musa is unfit to play CB. We can play him as a backup CDM, but that is a big risk as he is too errorprone. We should’ve sold musa instead of Zapata. 3. Borini adds nothing to the game, Nothing. I don’t know what the coaches really see in him. I mean I am all in for hard work, but without any result hard work is pointless. We… Read more »
1. The defence (especially the right flank) needs more work: Musacchio and Calabria need to connect better.
2. It is obvious Castillejo is not a SS and not a starter.
3. We have not been clinical enough.
4. I believe this is not the starting line-up, so we should expect better when others return.
Andre Silva, Castillejo, Laxalt/RR (Coach’s choice), but retain Strinic, others should leave.
There is a crazy news around that Boban has agreement with Modric
He will join Milan with 7.5m salary
I know he’s old but man i would love Modric to lead Milan’s midfield
Oh man that would be a dream signing. Luka Modric would be fantastic. Especially if we still get Correa and keep Suso and Kessie. We would have a really good squad.
I just heard that Boban’s weaving his Croatian magic on Modric too. That would be a dream – he gets better with age.
I think we all knew Zvonimir would be instrumental in unearthing promising Croatian talent etc, but personally I never even dreamed of Modric considering a non-UCL team. Kudos to Boban if he pulls that deal off!
I didn’t see the match, but the stats look very positive. Seems like we can actually play decent football after all.
Statistically, i think Milan outplayed Man united. Giampaolo has really done great job on this players and I’m sure milan will do well this season with all the players available.
I really want to see how Paqueta play as trequartista and Bennacer as regista asap. When will this happen ?
I dont think that Gianpaolo coment here
Will next week match against KF Feronikeli be televised ?
Excellent football from Milan if we compare with last 5yrs playing style..Man Ut won their last 2 preseason matches in dominating mood but with Milan they were in backfoot if we analyzing the stat of the match….well done Mr Jiampaolo n thanks to dear Maldini management for what they have done so far…carry on
You just nail it..!!!!
After watching the match al analize what I’ve seen so first is first.Starting with our defence musacchio playing in the starting line up is our weak point so I hope duarte will be better than him.RR only kinda good in holding the ball.Midfield biglia is actually doing great there with bennacer and modric or praet or whoever comes gonna look impressive.Leao am sure he’s going to become a starting player with piatek and if we end up signing correa and piatek doesn’t get well we might put him on bench for couple of games partnership with correa and leao not… Read more »
Sorry but I can’t understand where all this euphoria comes from, I thought Milan lost again. After watching the game I can clearly see some improvements in the movement of the team as a whole, the team looks way more disciplined compared to last season(even though Manchester weren’t pressing at all) The team tries to dribble and dictates the play through possession and patience. I would say Milan dominated the first half effortlessly. What I didn’t like and find alarming is the same problems we had for years, a lack of a ball winner in the midfield, shaky defense, and… Read more »
All I can say is thank god we’re not all rooting for Giampaulo’s downfall like some prophets of doom on here. As Woody Allen once said “What I wouldn’t give for a large polo mallet.”
Being a Milán fan means supporting everyone, but some become fanatic with ideas and prediction.
I can’t be bothered to reply to your drivel Raven but I see you haven’t got the message yet.
sadly he haven’t and he will never be able to
Bennacer deal is finally official. Regarding Modrić there are mixed reports. In Croatia, media are already reporting he signed 2 year contract worth 7,5 millions per season.
Is he coming fo free or else no he is too old
I don’t quite believe these reports as Croatian sports papers are known to be euphoric especially on football topic. But let’s see
Guys goals were not Musacchios fault. Seeing Man Utd barely put any real pressure on us , the only thing our defense does was moving the ball around and Musacchio did that very ,he was in fact the busiest – more touches and more toward passes (not all were accurate of course). About the goals conceded, Man Utd were only attacking better down our right side with a few Marcus Rashford runs who’s such a fast player and could’ve done the same on our left side of defense too if he was left footed ,he’s dribbled through better defenses. It’s… Read more »
The biggest issue last season was that we failed to dominate small sides. And Giampolo’s style of play will make sure that we pick up points against all the little sides of Serie A. We still have work to do on our defence but I am confident of this season. With Bennacer, Kessie, Leao and Paqueta in the mix, we won’t be missing sitters like we did today (we missed some pure sitters… Piatek needs to sharpen up) I can’t wait for the new season. Milan will shock the likes of Inter, Napoli and Juve who think they’re way ahead.… Read more »