Milan saw key individuals produce top performances against Sampdoria in midweek as we sealed a 4-1 win to keep our hopes of fifth place in Serie A alive.
In order to avoid the Europa League qualifiers which start in September, we must finish above Roma. While that is ultimately now out of our hands depending on their final two results, we did our job on Wednesday night by putting Samp to the sword and picking up another important three points.
READ MORE: Five key talking points as clinical Milan hit four past Sampdoria in impressive win
After bagging a brace, Zlatan Ibrahimovic naturally gets top marks after leading our charge but other key individuals also did their part to ensure that we came out on top.
AC Milan player ratings vs Sampdoria..
Gianluigi Donnarumma, 7 – Nothing he could have done to stop Sampdoria’s goal as it was a lovely strike, but produced key saves prior to that and his performance was capped off with his second penalty save in as many games. Decisive.
Davide Calabria, 6 – Disappointing to see him go off with an injury but was solid defensively and offered some freshness down the right flank with his energy and work-rate.
Simon Kjaer, 6 – Looked comfortable for the most part but mistimed his tackle which led to Sampdoria’s penalty being awarded. The only mistake he’s made in what has been an impressive run of form for weeks now.
Matteo Gabbia, 6.5 – A much-improved display from the youngster as he looked more assured and in control at the back. Used his physicality and read danger well as it was certainly a positive effort this time round aside from a sign of inexperience as he conceded a dangerous free-kick on the edge of the box with a rash tackle.
Theo Hernandez, 7 – Great to have him back from suspension, as he kept things tight defensively down his side while his explosiveness and pace to break forward brings a different dynamic to our attack that causes the opposition real problems.
Franck Kessie, 6.5 – Slow start but gradually began to stamp his mark on the game and that in turn gave us the foothold and platform to go on and put the encounter to bed with a clinical second half display.
Ismael Bennacer, 6.5 – Lost the ball in the build-up to Samp’s goal, but other than that his defensive work was critical to offer protection to the backline with his energy and tenacity to win the ball back constantly. Further, he dictates the tempo and speed at which the entire team plays at times.
Alexis Saelemaekers, 5.5 – Always a hard worker, but needs to provide more quality too. Was wasteful in the final third and is ultimately the ‘weak link’ in our attack, although his desire can’t be questioned and his versatility proved to be useful in the second half after Calabria’s injury.
Hakan Calhanoglu, 7.5 – Superb link up with Ibrahimovic and that’s now six goals and eight assists in 11 games in Serie A since the restart. Registered a goal and an assist in this one and while he was sloppy in possession early on, he made up for it with yet another decisive impact.
Ante Rebic, 6.5 – Did brilliantly in the build-up to our first goal as he provided the assist for Ibrahimovic’s opener. Had a great chance to score himself which was saved as he proved to be a threat, but was sensibly replaced at half-time after his altercation with Gaston Ramirez and will now miss the last game of the season.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 8 – Clinical, creative and a leader as he pulled the strings in our attack at times while showing how prolific he can still be. His experience and know-how are vital in adding an end product to our play, and his ability to lead the line has seen him firmly establish himself as a fundamental figure in our XI.
Substitutes:
Rafael Leao, 6.5 – Wonderful finish to wrap the game up and looked a constant threat when in possession. Pioli hasn’t been shy in asking for more from him off the ball, but hard to ignore his impact off the bench in recent weeks.
Samu Castillejo, 6 – Hopefully he has now got sufficient minutes under his belt to come back into the starting XI this weekend, as he offered energy and technical quality in the second half.
Giacomo Bonaventura, 6 – Helped us see out the win and was involved in some threatening moments as he looked to try and add to our tally.
Lucas Paqueta, N/A
Lucas Biglia, N/A