AC Milan left the European competition after a loss at home against Liverpool last night. Jurgen Klopp's side rotated his team greatly and still managed to grab the win against the Rossoneri.
Here are three 3 talking points to focus on from AC Milan's experience against the Premier League giants...
1/ Experience, experience, experience!
Stefano Pioli's side tried to give everything against Liverpool, but their efforts yesterday were simply not enough. At many moments, lack of concentration was clear. More mental strength was needed and especially leadership which was usually something that the injured Simon Kjaer provided. For most of the Rossoneri players, this year is their first in the Champions League. What is important is that they finally had a taste of real European football and they can hopefully learn and build on this and use it in the coming Serie A challenges (and Coppa Italia) that will be really difficult. The task now is to achieve the best possible results and guarantee entry to the Champions League again next season and why not fight for a potential Scudetto victory.
2/ Some players should have shown more quality...
Against Liverpool, many players struggled and were not up to the height of such an important occasion. For example, Brahim Diaz and Franck Kessié, who did play better than this in the game against Atlético Madrid, were not really dominating against the Reds. Kessié's physicality was very much needed as well as Brahim Diaz' vision and dribbles while driving forward.
3/ Reinforcements and player recoveries cannot come any sooner:
Facing Liverpool, Milan was not able to field Davide Calabria due to injury as well as Simon Kjaer, Rafael Leao and Ante Rebic. Olivier Giroud was also unavailable to help. The defensive and attacking lines were lacking and showed little strength overall in last night's fixture. Injuries are part of football, but coach Pioli cannot wait to recover some players within his squad soon. However, that may not just be what is missing. In fact, the club could enter the transfer market with the will to reinforce the team and 'find cover'. A centre-back may be on the agenda and perhaps another hybrid playmaker who plays just as well on the wings.
AC Milan not good enough to beat Liverpool at San Siro – Players ratings and match review
