Pioli loses and gets lost, never managing to find countermeasures to Italiano’s recipe. Abrupt downsizing for Thiaw, Tomori abandoned, De Keteleare leaves no mark. Igor unsurpassed, Cabral without scoring confirms the great signs of growth.
FIORENTINA
Terracciano 6.5: when Milan tries to light up he responds with at least a couple of decisive interventions;
Birghi 6: Messias in many situations is too easy to manage. Without infamy in his bucking forward (from 73′ Ranieri 6: enters to hold the punch and gets along well);
Igor 7: puts anyone within range in his pocket. After so many mistakes, great performance;
Martinez Quarter 6: despite the many advances which are the real specialty of the house, the few times that Milan break through they do so in their area of competence. Stretched sufficiency;
dodo 6.5: it is the tactical key of the match, almost against his will. Some mistakes of superficiality, some uncertainty, but his movements on and off the pitch make the right wing of the Viola unmanageable for Milan. Italian had been asking for them for some time, he finally manages to perform them effectively. And the assist for Jovic is the icing on the cake;
He loved 7: if cleanliness in the dribble is not his strong point, the amount of work done in the recovery phase is worthy of his Qatari World Cup. He plays full court even proposing forward (from 90 ‘Barak sv);
Mandrake 6.5: The Italian may have found a tactical solution (for him and for the team) by using him as a possession midfielder. Always right times and guaranteed balances. Meanwhile, he skilfully fends off Bennacer, draining the source of the Rossoneri game;
Bonaventure 7: Tomori denies him the goal with a lucky save on the line. Simply, he plays a match as a true lighthouse in the Lily midfield;
Nico Gonzalez 7: he assumes leadership tasks with a lot of tactical work and sacrifice, without missing important finishing touches. And that penalty scored how much it weighs (from 90′ Sottil sv);
Cabral 7: ok, he doesn’t score. And this has recently become a novelty. But the former Basel player perhaps played his best game since he was in Florence, clearly winning the duel with Thiaw and helping to “unstick” Milan on several occasions. He takes on duties as an offensive playmaker that he didn’t seem able to carry out, with a performance in the service of the team. When there is trust there is everything (since 79′ Jovic 7: enter and score, that’s it. The goal had been missing in the league since November against Salernitana, even then just entered, even then decisive. We repeat, fine like this);
Iconic 6.5: Milan leaves him too many times in the situation of being able to play 1vs1. Grace the opponents a couple of times, but try and try again, the penalty comes out and splits the match in favor of the Viola. Big ball the one that triggers the vertical action of the purple doubling;
Italian 7.5: the gears are turning in the right direction, finally. The match plan is well studied and wraps Milan from the first minutes. The asphyxiating man-on-man pressure terribly complicates the Rossoneri’s low construction, the fluidity of the midfield in possession levers references to the opponents who are always forced to chase. The rest is done by his on the pitch, good and punctual in making those too often missed plays. Perhaps he is rediscovering his Fiorentina.
MILAN
Maignan 6,5: Milan not only contain the deficit mainly thanks to him, but in many situations they have to rely on their goalkeeper to find solutions for the right passing lines under construction. Handyman, but also a preacher in the desert;
Tomori 5: saves a goal scored but combines the roast by conceding the penalty to Fiorentina. Too often left at the mercy of the waves by his teammates, but in his area Fiorentina passes like a knife through butter;
Thiaw 4,5: after the excellent performance against Atalanta, comparisons and noble combinations were wasted. This match brings him back to earth. Baptized in the 13th minute when he loses a trivial ball in setting up, on which he remedies by spending a yellow card on the edge of the area (more overtime for Maignan on Bonaventura’s free kick). From there he never recovered, with Cabral taking him for a walk. He closes in style losing even Jovic on 2-0;
Rabbit 5.5: maybe it’s the one that combines the least, but how much suffering on purple pressure;
Theo Hernandez 6: the goal at the end barely saves him a lackluster test, where however he is the only one to create real dangers for the Viola rearguard;
Bennacer 5,5: he’s doing what he can, but right now he can’t have the pace to cover the opponents’ constant attacks into space, or to resist Fiorentina’s obsessive pressing (from the 66th minute Bakayoko 5: aggravates the already complicated situation in the Rossoneri midfield);
Tone 5,5: Dodô’s placements drive him crazy. He fights a lot, but he always goes around in circles;
Messiah 5: he does few things, gets them almost all wrong, including an elegant brushstroke by De Ketelaere (from 74′ Saelemakers 6: leads well the last counterattack of the match, serving Theo for the goal of the flag)
The Ketelaere 5.5: always goes at a small trot, also finding some interesting play in finishing. But it continues to be a mysterious object (from 83′ Adli sv);
Giroud 6: to help in the ascent he does what he can (not much). Playable balls counted on the fingers of one hand, try to exploit them but find a Terracciano in dust (from 66′ Ibrahimovic 5: maybe it’s time to think about the future);
Rebic 4.5: Several planets under Leao. Igor and Quarta crumble it with disarming ease (from 66′ Origi 5: half a vote more, just because he has less time to get paid regularly);
Pegs 5: for God’s sake, Leao’s absence is not a small one, then add those of Diaz and Krunic to reduce the range of solutions. But his Milan is never really in the match and he can’t find the correctives, perhaps complicating his life with the timing of the changes. The Rossoneri, in difficulty in building and without useful solutions for a direct ascent, end up paying dearly for the numerical inferiority in the middle, always being forced into difficult climbs and recoveries on large spaces. Yet having only one pair in the middle is the only thing that has never changed during the match. Easy to say later, but it wasn’t a lucky choice.
The article Fiorentina-Milan (2-1) comes from Sportellate.it.