Milan’s recent results show that the team is not so much dependent on Zlatan Ibrahimovic as defender Simon Kjaer, almost doubling the goals conceded in his absence.
The Rossoneri saw their lead at the top of the Serie A table sliced from five points to just one in the space of two games, drawing 2-2 with both Parma and Genoa.
Sky Sport Italia crunched the numbers and discovered the extent to which Kjaer makes a huge difference to their results.
Milan’s recent results show that the team is not so much dependent on Zlatan Ibrahimovic as defender Simon Kjaer, almost doubling the goals conceded in his absence.
The Rossoneri saw their lead at the top of the Serie A table sliced from five points to just one in the space of two games, drawing 2-2 with both Parma and Genoa.
Sky Sport Italia crunched the numbers and discovered the extent to which Kjaer makes a huge difference to their results.
The Dane is out of action with a right thigh strain and is hoping to be back this weekend against Sassuolo.
Milan lost just one competitive match since the lockdown in March and none in Serie A.
During that period, they played 20 games with Kjaer in the line-up, conceding a total of 18 goals, so an average of 0.9 per match.
However, in the four fixtures played without Kjaer, the Rossoneri leaked seven goals, averaging 1.75 per game.
Those matches were 2-2 with SPAL, a 2-1 win away to Sampdoria, 2-2 with Parma and 2-2 with Genoa.
With Kjaer, Milan picked up an average of 2.6 points per game, compared to 1.5 in his absence.
That is a significantly larger difference than the one Ibrahimovic makes, as if anything the team does better without the Swede.
Milan with Ibrahimovic had 2.37 points per game over 16 Serie A matches, compared to 2.5 points per game in the eight played without him.
Only in three Serie A matches have the team had to do without both Kjaer and Ibrahimovic simultaneously, namely the 2-1 win away to Sampdoria and the latest 2-2 draws with Parma and Genoa.