Milan rose to a 1-0 victory away against Monza in Serie A on Saturday evening, but the hosts were unfortunate that Dany Mota’s first-half opener was disallowed for a foul in the build-up.
Here are the player ratings from a tightly-contested affair in Monza.
Monza
(3-4-2-1): Turati 6.5; Izzo 6, Marì 5.5, Carboni 6; Pereira 6, Bianco 5.5, Bondo 6, Kyriakopoulos; Maldini 7, Mota 6.5; Djuric 5.5.
Best Monza player: Maldini 7 – Against his former side and the club with which the Maldini name is best associated, Paulo’s son put in another impressive performance in Monza’s attack, particularly in the first-half. Perhaps could have done better with the chance he was provided with in the area, but created a few for his teammates as well, and caused the Rossoneri real issues along with Dany Mota in the opening 45.
Coach: Alessandro Nesta 6.5 – Monza did more than enough to go into the interval at least 1-0 up, but somehow they went down the tunnel trailing. Monza were unfortunate with their disallowed goal, and Milan’s was against the run of play at the time. Monza largely defended well, but they left it a little too late to get back into it in the second half.
Milan
(4-2-3-1): Maignan 7; Terracciano 6, Pavlovic 6, Thiaw 6.5, T.Hernandez 6.5; Fofana 6.5, Reijnders 7; Chukwueze 5.5, Pulisic 6.5, Okafor 5.5; Morata 5.
Best Milan player: Reijnders 7 – What a difference the Dutchman makes to the Milan midfield. Created an overload with his run forwards, and was then in the right place at the right time to nod home Milan’s opener as a result. Troubled Turarti just shy of the hour mark and set up Leao for a very decent opportunity right after the Portuguese came on, as well. Great at moving the ball quickly and a very tidy dribbler in congested areas.
Coach: Paulo Fonseca 5.5 – Milan weren’t lucky about the way they scored, but they were fortunate that their goal put them ahead at the time; Monza had already sent the warning signal before Dany Mota’s strike was ruled out. From there, there wasn’t too much clarity about Milan’s attacking plans, and though they were able to see things out in the second-half, it wasn’t always the most comfortable performance to watch.
Series A | Monza 0-1 Milan: Reijnders to the rescue
