Team news: Milan were without the suspended Theo Hernández as well as without Simon Kjær and Tiémoué Bakayoko, while Empoli had to do without Riccardo Marchizza, Nicolas Haas and Emmanuel Ekong. Kickoff time for Matchday 29 was 20:45 CET at Stadio San Siro.
Goal: Kalulu (19′)
AC Milan (4-2-3-1) – Stefano Pioli
Mike Maignan; Davide Calabria, Pierre Kalulu, Fikayo Tomori, Alessandro Florenzi; Ismaël Bennacer (87′ Rade Krunić), Sandro Tonali; Junior Messias (72′ Alexis Saelemaekers), Franck Kessié (72′ Brahim Díaz), Rafael Leão (83′ Ante Rebić); Olivier Giroud (83′ Zlatan Ibrahimović).
Unused: Mirante, Tătăruşanu; Ballo-Touré, Gabbia, Romagnoli; Castillejo; Maldini.
Empoli F.C. (4-3-2-1) – Aurelio Andreazzoli
Guglielmo Vicario; Riccardo Fiamozzi (63′ Petar Stojanović), Simone Romagnoli, Sebastiano Luperto, Liberato Cacace (63′ Fabiano Parisi); Szymon Żurkowski, Kristjan Asllani, Filippo Bandinelli (70′ Marco Benassi); Nedim Bajrami (70′ Federico Di Francesco), Liam Henderson (63′ Patrick Cutrone); Andrea Pinamonti.
Unused: Ujkani; Ismajli, Tonelli, Viti; Štulac, Verre; La Mantia.
Referee: Daniele Chiffi.
The only problem am afraid of is the referee
Right? It’s like we’ve had 4 Muntari ghost goals in one season already.
We lost 7 points to bad officiating
Spezia, Salertina, Udinese?
We should have been on the driving seat by now if not for bad officiating and we losing to smaller teams as well
A tense match because of the impact the result will have on the standing, but somehow I am convinced the boys have overcome the problem of complacency, they should be smoking for victory today.
I love this kid Kalulu soooo much. He’s definitely our PRESENT and FUTURE!!
So happy for this guy – he’s gonna be a beast.
And who needs Donna? What a howler against Real.
Yes that was bad
Why in the world would you score a goal like that with your weaker foot? Absolutely phenomenal!!
He is such a special talent!!
Right up there with our best young players.
Is there anything he can’t do?
I remember Milan being linked with Dayot Upamecano and later missing out on him. I was kinda disappointed cuz I really liked Dayot but this Kalulu guy looks like the real deal.
Hes so composed for a young player, incredible.
Good on the ball, quick, hard working, skilful.
Fast becoming a favourite
You can’t help but feel that Man. City or Bayern Muchen are keeping a close eye on him.
Where’s Milan10 when you need him?
I hope we can kick on now and get the 3 points!
Need another goal
Average 1st half, Leao needs to improve his decision making between taking on players and passing the ball. He lose a ball too much lately trying to attack alone.
He’s trying too hard. He should have started this game from the bench. Rebic should have started.
This is already looking like a scrap match. Just hope Milan gets the job done and keep the 3 points.
I think Leão is trying too hard. This should have been a match Rebic should have started to get into match groove. Leão could and should have been an impact sub.
Kessie for me is no longer a Milan player.
Cmon we need the 2nd goal
this is our problem, lacking killer instinct
not killing games off when 1-0 up like v
salernitana & udinese
If we don’t get a good right winger next season, we will end up frustrating Leao and making him to start playing badly because he is the only one we rely on to spearhead our attack….I just pray this will not affect Leao…
at what point does he know he needs to match changes is it when empoli scores?
Saladmaker has scored just 3 goal in 59 games. That is not a striker. Theo scored 17 goals in 89 games
That last play he did, instead of keeping ball or run it in corner he ran into 3 empoli players and gave it away, useless as well as poor scoring stats as you say.
Thats why i say that he needs a position change. He is clearly not efficent as a RW. Pioli should try him as a LW since he is right footed, maybe he will start scoring more. He can be tryed as a AM as well, he combines good with short passes and can run, so that might work as well. But as a RW he is definetly not working. And this is what i don’t like about Pioli the most, he takes so long to figure out some things that it becomes frustrating. Look how long it took him to… Read more »
You’re right, it’s frustrating to watch Pioli ignore what seems to be the obvious but there’s some method to his madness, hence our current position in the table. That being said, Saelemaekers definitely isn’t a winger, and would be more productive as a mezzala in a three man midfield, likewise with Diaz who’s more suited as a winger in a trident attack.
Agreed.
Ugly win !!!
Massive 3 points, I’ve got that feeling this season could be special
Milan’s attack is completely dead right now…I hope they wake up sooner rather than later
It’s not dead….The lower teams are overly defensive. You need to know this….
Empoli were defending with up to 9 men in the box. However, Tonali is a bit fatigued, and Brahim has also dropped off form. They will bounce back (at least Tonali will)
Messias needs to upgrade his game and moreover Pioli should understand he has to do his changes on time and also updates his formation with at least a new attacking player because our opponents are studying our pattern of play
Rebic needs more to come and add his flavour to Milan game
Good ugly 3 points in the bag already
we will do better next weekend
forza milan
I dont think Messias can upgrade his game much more than this mate. He is 30 and he is the finnished product really. Maybe Rebic can be the starter on the RW, he is not a bench player any way. I belive that Rebic can create chances from the right wing as well, he played as a RW for Croatia in the world cup and he did great. But until Pioli tries something new the season will probobly be over lol.
agree. Rebic should be on the right wing. or second striker
Again I beg they don’t waste 30 millions on Botman the Dutch Romagnoli. Kalulu will eventually take over from Kjaer, or rather he already did. Better to search for a young CB, a Kalulu-esque signing or even experienced and cheap Kjaer-esque signing and spend those 30 millions on a proper RW.
lol you need help. The Dutch Romagnoli?
you must not watch football
Totally agree, 30 million on botman is madness when we have kalalu who is now proven. like u say buy another young cb and invest in right winger,and maybe another 10 with potential to support adli,
Kalulu needs to have more freedom. Playing CB doesnt offer that. I think his best position would be a Viera/Makelele type role at DM. Kessie is leaving so he can slot in there. Leaving him at CB isnt utilizing him properly. Thats my opinion. Botman is a GREAT player. You dont not sign great players because one of your guys has stepped up and had a good run of form.
The race for the title will be a nail biting fight to the finish, so this definitely was a much needed win in our journey to a scudetto. It wasn’t the best display we’ve seen this season but it’s three points and another clean sheet, so kudos the boys. The thing that’s most exciting about this moment is not just that we’re contending for the championship but the manner in which we are doing it.We’ve faced many challenges with injuries and officiating errors and yet we’re still here in first place giving it a hell of a fight. Certainly this… Read more »
title race is going to come to the last game. Juve in on the rise but are playing catch up. – it might have been too little to late for them. Napoli is on the thick of it but i question their mental strength. Inter is probably the strongest but are trending down. and then there it is us who need a bit of consistency. It is in our hands!
Now we confidentially on top the log table all thanks to Torino hope we maintain this top for as long as we handed the scudetto
Torino should have won against Inter. VAR and Referees again making Serie A look fixed.
Check who the referees are..
You got it correct.
His crew has just now been suspended. Why did it take this long?
Suspended but the damage is done. Serie A referees are a joke.
They already have two quality additions coming in summer for AM and DM positions – Adli and Pobega. I dare to believe Belotti as well. So they need to put their focus on acquiring proper RW and Theo’s understudy.
a couple of years ago we were sweating just trying to get top 4. Last year we made top 4 on the last day. This year we are taking UCL qualification as a given and are talking about scudetto. i love it.. about damn time
So who are we giving the credit to poili or the management or the players to me I feel it’s a general effort but so far the luck didn’t come as much as we needed them due to the bad officiating
Pioli for sure. Remember we had players like Andre Silva, Paqueta etc. They are performing really well for their clubs now but here they were lost. It’s all about guidance. It’s the coach and Pioli is the man!
I’m afraid officiating has nothing to do with luck. If so, it means that our luck is in Inter’s hands. LOL
Remaining Games:
Milan: Cagliary-bologna-torino-Genoa-Lazio-Fiorentina-Verona-Atalanta
Inter: Fiorentina-Juventus-Verona-Spezia-Roma-Udinese-Empoli-Cagliari-Samp
Napoli: Udinese-Atalanta-Fiorentina-Roma-Empoli-Sassuolo-Torino-Genoa-Spezia
We all face Fiorentina and Verona. But i feel if napoli gets through Roma, i dont see them losing after that at all.
There is Torino there is sassuolo but I can bet on Torino more because the game there played against inter was superb milan still has some difficult one lazio florentina and Atlanta for now but Atlanta has really not been impressive so far
Milan fixtures are far much favourable compared to inter and Napoli
No fixture is favourable at all the smallest team can cause an upset to me I prefer we have big fixtures because so far we have won the big teams with ease just wish we win all the remaining matches and grab the league
Agreed. No fixtures are better. But I would rather we meet Atalanta and Lazio earlier in the schedule. Atalanta is not doing well now probably because they are still in Europa League. They could be well prepared and tougher to beat once they are eliminated.