A toothless Milan failed to break the deadlock in their Champions League opener against Newcastle United: here are Football Italia’s ratings.
Milan
Mike Maignan – 6 – Little to do in the way of saves. Ineffective passing but good presence in the penalty area (81’ Marco Sportiello – N/A).
Davide Calabria – 5 – Unconvincing defending against Anthony Gordon and unproductive when venturing forward (45’ Alessandro Florenzi – 5.5).
Malick Thiaw – 6 – Accurate and useful passing, decent defensive performance but struggled in the duels.
Fikayo Tomori – 7 – Confident and collected work from the Englishman, who completed all of his 49 passes and won five ground duels.
Theo Hernandez – 7 – Threatening when marauding down the left, keenly involved in attacking moves, producing four clear chances.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek – 5 – Wasteful in possession and struggled to be much use off the ball (72’ Yunus Musah – 6)
Rade Krunic – 6.5 – Worked hard defensively and helped kickstart attacking moves with his accurate passing.
Tommaso Pobega – 5 – Failed to impose himself in the midfield and wasn’t useful in the final third (61’ Tijjani Reijnders – 6).
Samuel Chukwueze – 5.5 – Failed to be decisive in attack, unable to find the right combination to unlock the Newcastle defence (61’ Christian Pulisic – 6.5).
Olivier Giroud – 5 – Can’t fault his work rate but toothless in the final third. Should’ve done better considering his quality and experience.
Rafael Leao – 5.5 – Looked threatening on the ball but was all left feet in the Newcastle penalty area. Will be frustrated with his own performance.
Newcastle United
Nick Pope – 8
Kieran Trippier – 7
Fabian Schar – 5
Sven Botman – 5.5
Dan Burn – 6
Sean Longstaff – 6.5
Bruno Guimaraes – 5.5
Sandro Tonali – 5 (72’ Elliot Anderson – 5)
Jacob Murphy – 6 (63’ Callum Wilson – 4.5)
Alexander Isak – 5.5 (91’ Harvey Barnes – N/A)
Anthony Gordon – 5.5 (63’ Miguel Almiron – 5)