Notes On A Handicapped 3-0 Loss To Chelsea

A handicapped team without Maignan, Calabria and Theo took the pitch with Krunic, Dest and Ballo-Toure starting.

The start was decent but it fell apart soon into the first with Tatarusanu forced to make two good saves. Defending and in particular set piece defending was the failing of Milan when Chelsea scored following three corners. The first two had Thiago Silva missing free header but with the third chance the hosts scrambled the ball in. The rest of the half featured simple mistakes that led to a somewhat trigger happy referee giving yellows to Krunic, Ballo-Toure and Tomori.

A late Raheem Sterling chance was thwarted by a rare good defensive play but the save was made at the last by a sliding Kalulu. A very late excellent Milan chance was shot way high by Krunic.

Hopes for a more settled or improved second didn’t last long as simple mistakes and poor defending allowed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to find the back of the net. No player did well in the sequence that ended with Tomori unable to prevent the scorer from getting to the Reece James cross. James converted the next good chance minutes after Sterling had shot high. It was a discouraging 3-0 with nearly 30 minutes left.

Gabbia and Rebic came on for Krunic and De Ketelaere. Pobega, Diaz and Origi (for Bennacer, Leao and Giroud) followed minutes later. A start stop game followed with Milan unable to trouble the London team anywhere near enough or at all.