This time Giacinti wasn’t enough to guarantee the result and after a very good first half, the AC Milan Women's team seemingly gave up the game on the second half and Sassuolo took it over, equalizing the score with Philtjens during injury time.
The player ratings:
Korenciova (7) – Once again, the Slovakian goalkeeper had a solid performance, making at least three impressive saves throughout the game.
Vitale (5,5) – A balanced game for the defender, though she had to tone down a little after the referee warned her a couple of times.
Agard (6,5) – Another rock-solid performance for the Frenchwoman.
Fusetti (6) – Our number 6 had little trouble to keep the neroverde attack under control during the first half and was even able to make support runs. In second half, she suffered much more having to mark Hayley Bugeja.
Bergamaschi (5,5) – Valentina, much like her teammates, had a good first half of the game, defending quite well and posing as a threat every time she advanced. Unfortunately, she got tired after 55 minutes and struggled defensively, and Sassuolo took advantage of that.
Conc (5) – Not a game to be remembered by the number 17 as she often was out of position and gave away possession easily. She was replaced in the 55th minute by Mauri (5,5) – A step up from her teammate but didn’t have the impact coach Ganz was expecting.
Simic (5,5) – The german midfielder is one of the most technical gifted players on the team but is not cut out for the defensive midfielder job and this game has shown it.
Veró (6) – Step by step she takes the team by her hand and is becoming one of the most influential players, but if the team doesn’t help, dropping the lines after scoring, she cannot do everything.
Dowie (5,5) – It’s very hard to a player like her to play well and score when she is the one responsible for dropping in behind, receiving long passes, awaiting the teammates to come closer, but she did it decently until she was out of gas and got replaced by Grimshaw (5), who could have given a different end to this game, but failed to convert, with an open goal, the one and only chance Milan created in the second half.
Giacinti (6,5) – She scores every match and we can see her partnership with Veró growing stronger, but we can’t say the same about her and Dowie.
Coach Maurizio Ganz (5,5) - We saw an interesting first half from Milan, but the coach failed to keep their heads in the game and his substitions didn't have a great impact.
Photo credit: acmilan.com
