AC Milan 0-1 Atalanta: Ederson nets winner as Rossoneri fall to 10th league defeat | OneFootball

AC Milan’s struggles against sides above them in the league continued as they were beaten 1-0 by Atalanta at San Siro on Sunday night.

After a balanced first half, the only goal of the game came just past the hour mark and it was against the run of play in truth. Ederson was the man who got it and it would be enough for Gian Piero Gasperini’s side to earn them a win that should book a top four spot.

Milan’s misery continues as they hit double digits in Serie A losses for the season, and they lost further ground on the European places. It also means that Atalanta have done the double over the Rossoneri.

For the first time since his arrival at the end of December, Sergio Conceicao named an unchanged starting line-up for consecutive league games. That meant the three-man defence remained, with Christian Pulisic, Luka Jovic and Rafael Leao the front three.

The first 10 minutes were perhaps unsurprisingly quite open, but the two sides trades corner kicks more than they did chances, with the quality of the set piece delivery not causing any problems for either defence.

It was a case of all bark and no bite from both sides, without a single shot coming in the opening 20 minutes barring a header from Ederson that never threatened. That being said, the matching up of the 3-4-3/3-4-2-1 systems did make for an interesting tactical duel.

Atalanta had the lion’s share of possession as Milan seemed happy to sit off in a compact block and wait for their moments to counter. It was risky when the away side got down the sides, and in the 25th minute Retegui volleyed a Pasalic cross wide of the near post.

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Milan broke quickly just before the half-hour mark and Leao had space to run into beyond the last man having been found by Tjjani Reijnders’ through ball. Yet, as the edge of the box approached, Bellanova managed to bump him off-balance and the winger fell over

The run off the shoulder of the last man by Leao continued to be Milan’s main weapon and it was so close to working again the next time, when Youssouf Fofana found him with an excellent ball over the top that the Portuguese brought down inside the box somehow but slipped at the vital moment.

Jovic surrendered a huge chance to take the lead right before the half-time interval. A ball was played into the Serbian striker by Jimenez, who shrugged off the defender nearby and let fly on the turn, though his attempt was skewed wide of the post from about eight yards out.

Milan started the second half better and nearly cut through Atalanta inside a minute when Fofana took the ball from the edge of his own box to the other end, feeding Reijnders whose cut-back towards Jovic was just cut out.

A few minutes later, Leao was found in space again on the left side of the box after a corner wasn’t fully cleared. With Pavlovic and Pulisic waiting for a tap-in he dragged a shot that deflected behind, though the referee gave a goal kick.

Milan continued to knock on the door with a sustained period of pressure. Cuadrado showed all his experience and gladly took a yellow card when he chopped down Theo after he knocked it past him to get into a very dangerous position down the left side.

Just after the hour mark, Atalanta took a lead that in truth was undeserved on the balance of play. Lookman provided a deep cross to Bellanova who was in an advanced position on the right side of the box, with Ederson on hand to head home from close range after the nod back across goal.

The goal seemed to take some of the life out of Milan’s performance, and shortly after Lookman almost squared for Retegui to make it 0-2, three changes followed. Joao Felix, Tammy Abraham and Riccardo Sottil came on, with Jovic, Jimenez and Pulisic making way.

Inside the final ten minutes, the other two changes came. Leao and Tomori were the ones who made way, for Samuel Chukwueze and Santiago Gimenez, the latter making his return from injury.

The game became very end-to-end in the closing stages, with Lookman missing a big chance to kill things off, while at the other end nothing would click for Milan who fell to their 10th league defeat.