Psg-Milan 3-0: goals from Mbappé, Kolo Muani and Lee

From our correspondent Marco Fallesi

October 25th
– Paris

If Champions League AC Milan were looking for answers, several arrived on the night in Paris. And they are not at all comforting: first of all, the 3-0 with which PSG took first place in group F is a defeat that risks leaving much more waste than the defeat against Juve. Not only that: the Cup Devil confirms himself as sensationally successful, we are in the third game out of three finished without scoring, and Jovic’s injury in the warm-up also complicates things on a numerical level for the next matches. And again: the ranking gets tough, very tough. Borussia Dortmund, winning in Newcastle, shuffles the cards and leaves the door to the round of 16 open for Pioli, but to advance they will need to win, starting from the return match against the French, on 7 November at San Siro: this Milan without malice in front of goal and fragile behind is able to do it?

The choices

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Milan is the one announced on the eve of the match, but it is also unprecedented: for the first time in its history in European cups, a team without Italians takes the field. Kalulu, preferred to Calabria on the right, has the heaviest task, dealing with Mbappé. Without Loftus-Cheek, Pioli relies on Musah and Reijnders in the middle, with Krunic playing: the Bosnian returns to the starting lineup a month after the last time. Up front it’s the Pulisic-Giroud-Leao trident. Luis Enrique responds with an ultra-attacking 4-2-4: balanced midfielder with Zaire-Emery and Ugarte, then wide open to creativity: Vitinha is the “intruder” in an all-French attack with Dembelé and Mbappé wide and Kolo Muani as first striker .

Lightning Mbappé

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The premises of the match give shivers to the AC Milan fans: PSG pushes hard, the Rossoneri retreat fearfully and receive two yellow cards in the first 7 minutes, with Thiaw and Krunic. The French keep the ball, maneuver but don’t finish and so Milan finds the courage to get up and start playing “their” game, made up of high pressure and counterattacks. It’s the 10th minute when Pulisic breaks through and looks for a teammate at the far post: Leao, however, isn’t there and Marquinhos closes in the corner. Rafa wakes up in the 16th minute, when he carries the ball at speed and Hakimi knocks him down: the Moroccan is booked, Milan earn a free kick from the edge of the box. But, surprisingly, Tomori goes on the ball: the barrier rejects. The Devil is imprecise, not very bad in the area, but holds up and PSG then relies on Mbappé’s solos: first shot on goal in the 22nd minute, Maignan blocks without problems, then a curling right-footed shot that grazes the post in the 30th minute. He resembles a back and forth with Leao, who four minutes earlier looked for, and almost caressed, the far post diagonally, after a nice counterattack finished off by a backheel from Giroud. Instead it is the prelude to the flash that lights up the Parc des Princes in the 32nd minute: Mbappé scores, and it is a great goal, but equally beautiful is the play that delivers the ball to the French star, signed by Zaire-Emery. The 17-year-old who “fired” Verratti snatches balls in the midfield and always extracts something interesting from them, just like when he runs away from Reijnders and catches Mbappé at the entrance to the area: Kylian controls, fakes, moves the ball and unloads an unstoppable right-footed shot under the eyes of Tomori, stunned by the Frenchman’s high-speed sleight of hand. PSG passes in Milan’s best moment, and risks doubling the lead with Kolo Muani: Thiaw blocks his shot and Pioli breathes.

Devil on his knees

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The German, with the very dangerous stain of the yellow card on him, remains in the locker room: inside Calabria, with Kalulu moved to the center. PSG doesn’t change but starts again more convinced. And he strikes again: first he scores with Dembelé, but the referee Vincic cancels after a VAR check for a push by Ugarte on Musah, then he risks conceding an equalizer with Giroud, who misses the target after a cross from Pulisic (the American, from an excellent position, could have gone for the shot…) and in the 53rd minute he netted the 2-0. The Rossoneri defense forgets about Dembelé, left free to shoot on the development of a corner: the Parisians’ 10 goes to shoot, Maignan saves short and Kolo Muani shoots in from two steps. Milan dances, thanks Maignan who denies Mbappé the brace, and tries to shake off. But the limits of the Rossoneri attack in the Champions League emerge forcefully: the first shot on goal, after over an hour of play, is an unpretentious right-footed shot from Pulisic; in the 68th minute the usual Leao receives a good ball from Reijnders on the counterattack but doesn’t get it; Giroud tries to surprise Donnarumma with a lob from distance, but Gigio is attentive. And he confirmed himself in the 78th minute on Leao, deflecting the Portuguese’s close-range right-footed shot into a corner. Maignan is no exception: 10′ from the end Mbappé appears all alone to shoot, he deflects it onto the post. A question of time, because PSG passes again: the Korean Kang-In Lee, who came on in place of Dembelé, scores the 3-0 with an assist from an elusive Zaire-Emery. The party is red and blue, the Devil is going to hell and tomorrow he will wake up with a headache: on Sunday we go to Naples.