Milan loses at home against Cremonese in their league opener. According to colleagues at Gazzetta dello Sport, the best player on the pitch for the Rossoneri was Luka Modric, whose performance earned him a solid 6.5 rating:
“At this pace, he could play for another 40 years. He passes, distributes, looks for goal. A clear pool of water in the Rossoneri’s technical desert.”
For the rest, the Milan squad’s ratings are low, and it couldn’t be otherwise given the insufficient performance most of them displayed. Apart from Modric, the other players who “save themselves” are Mike Maignan (6), Strahinja Pavlovic (6), saved by his goal, and Pervis Estupiñán (6), saved by his assist.
Everyone else scored no higher than 5.5: Gabbia, Saelemaekers, Jimenez, Chukwueze, and Jashari. Among the underperformers are Christian Pulisic (5), Fikayo Tomori (5), and Youssouf Fofana (5). The worst on the field was Santiago Gimenez, with a 4.5: “Baschirotto deflects his left-footed shot on the post, then frequently puts him in his place. He comes across like a puppy, even unlucky at the end.”
Not the best start for Allegri on Milan's bench in Serie A:
Max Allegri, on his return to the Rossoneri bench, is also given a failing mark (5): "Where did the magic of preseason go? His Milan is slow, predictable, and careless in defense. As Max likes to say: there’s work to do."
