Slavia Praha 1-3 AC Milan: Five things we learned – the positives and the harsh reality

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·15 March 2024

Slavia Praha 1-3 AC Milan: Five things we learned – the positives and the harsh reality

AC Milan managed to navigate potentially choppy waters fairly easily in the end as they beat Slavia Praha 3-1 on the night away from home to secure a 7-3 aggregate win in their Europa League last 16 tie.

It was a case of deja vu at the Fortuna Arena, as Slavia went down to ten men inside the opening half an hour when Holes was sent off following a VAR review after a stamp on Davide Calabria’s ankle.

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Just like they did one week prior, Milan got three goals before half-time to effectively kill the contest. The first came from Christian Pulisic as he finished a feed from Rafael Leao, then Ruben Loftus-Cheek tapped home a Theo Hernandez cross and finally Leao scored the pick of the bunch.

Jurasék did get one back for the hosts late on but the Rossoneri were just happy for it to be a drama-free evening in the end, especially given all of the off-field matters surrounding the club. Below are five things we learned from the game…

1. Made in Chelsea

As mentioned above, Pulisic was the one who opened the scoring as he yet again got a very important goal for Milan, at least when it came to settling the nerves.

Them, Loftus-Cheek got his name on the scoresheet again with one of those deep runs into the box that are fast becoming his trademark, and he actually did something that hasn’t been done since Kaka 17 years ago.

Pulisic now has 19 goal contributions in 38 games this season, while Loftus-Cheek remains Milan’s top scorer this calendar year with eight goals. After Olivier Giroud and Fikayo Tomori, it would be fair to say that this ‘sign Chelsea cast-offs’ thing is working out alright.

2. A bit of rust

It feels difficult to pull out tangible negatives from a game and a tie that were virtually almost in Milan’s control, but we must mention a couple of the more questionable notes.

Tomori and Malick Thiaw have spent a long time out, it needs to be said, and we saw from the latter in the game against Monza that there is as much mental fog to clear as there is physical.

However, when Tomori went through the back of his man about 50 yards from goal in the first half to earn a yellow card that means he will miss the first leg against Roma, it left us scratching out heads a bit.

Then, for Slavia’s only goal, it is useless to hide from the fact that Thiaw left a lot to be desired with his defending as Jurasek spun and fired with relative ease. A bit more sharpness will hopefully come with minutes, but it is definitely needed.

3. Swagger and screamers

Leao’s goal was jaw-dropping. The way he brought the ball under control, opened himself up and whipped it into the top corner was something only few players in the world can do. Genuinely.

However, there was something a bit more to his performance in the Czech capital, something that also extends beyond the assist that he gave to Pulisic when he must have been so tempted to shoot.

In 2024 he has already scored six goals and provided five assists. For some perspective, only Kylian Mbappé, Cole Palmer (Chelsea) and Benjamin Bourigeaud (Rennes) have reached 5+5.

It really might be the Spring of Leao, but it is worth mentioning the moment where the Portuguese winger interrupted the game to draw attention to the Slavia fans, who threw beer and bottles at Yacine Adli.

Would he have done that a year ago? Who knows. What we saw was a very dynamic performance though without a doubt, and a player willing to protect his team-mates. After the game he spoke about feeling ‘100%’ Milanista, and that in itself is very positive.

4. An avoidable farce

Milan can breathe a sigh of relief regarding the condition of goalkeeper Mike Maignan, who has avoided a serious injury, but the way that things played out was not good.

Maignan was forced off in the first half after a late tackle as he tried to get rid of the ball. After attempting to play on twice following the medical staff coming onto the field, the decision was made to bring him off.

Thankfully, optimism filtered after the game regarding his knee, and further tests that were conducted today confirmed that he has not suffered any ligament damage but has instead just got heavy bruising.

The signs suggest he will miss the next game and be back against Fiorentina after the break, but really he should have been brought off immediately after the initial collision to remove the risk of further damage.

It can be hard for the medical staff when players insist on playing on, yet common sense seemed to suggest that after such a nasty knee impact he should have made way. Who knows what it could have cost if he hadn’t eventually come off.

5. What did we learn?

Reverting back to the title of this very piece, what did we really learn about Milan’s hopes to get to Dublin in two months and hoist the Europa League for the first time?

It would be fair to remark that based on the first four games that the Rossoneri have played in the tournament, the signs are not very encouraging.

Beating Stade Rennais 3-0 in the first leg was the only truly complete performance that Stefano Pioli’s side have provided, where they were clinical at one end and relatively organised at the other. The other three didn’t boost the stock of either of those things.

Conceding three goals against ten-man Slavia over the two legs is something to be genuinely worried about. That isn’t to disrespect the opponent at all, but more a stark realisation of what is to come.

We should address the elephant in the room: to win the competition, Milan will almost certainly have to beat Liverpool. A Jurgen Klopp side that put 11 goals past Sparta Praha over two legs, who as it stands are set to beat Slavia to the title.

Improvements are needed. As tempting as it is to play gung-ho in Europe and embrace the chaotic nature of the tournaments, doing so against better opponents will leave Milan on the floor.