Efficiency and individual records: All the key stats from Udinese vs. AC Milan | OneFootball

AC Milan came away with all three points from their game against Udinese, finding the back of the net four times, and there were several positive stats to take from the Friday action.

Rafael Leao opened the scoring with a lovely curling effort and just a few minutes later, Strahinja Pavlovic rose highest on a corner and doubled the lead. Theo Hernandez then redeemed himself with a great goal, while Tijjani Reijnders closed the affair.

As the scoreline alone tells us, there were several positives to take from the game for Milan, not just the efficiency in attack. So, let’s dive into all the relevant stats and firues from the game.

Efficiency in attack

Taking a look at the overall stats for the game, it’s clear that Milan were incredibly efficient when going forward, actually succeeding with their attempts this time out. 15 shots on target is a lot, yes, but the xG for yesterday was just 1.56 – proving the high quality of the goals scored.

The number of corners also suggests that Milan were able to put Udinese in real difficulty, whereas the home side had zero big chances in the game. For once, the Rossoneri used all of their quality and it was very nice to see.

Reijnders reaches Van Basten levels

With his goal last night, steering in Leao’s pass from close range, Reijnders hit double figures in terms of league goals scored this season. He thus became only the second Dutch player to achieve that in a single season for Milan, after Marco Van Basten did it five times (1988/89, 1989/90, 1990/91, 1991/92, and 1992/93).

He did miss a chance at the start of the game, as we pointed out in our player ratings, but he played really well after that and deserved to get the goal. The tandem with Youssouf Fofana also worked very well in the new formation, so the feeling is that the Dutchman will continue to play an important role in the season finale.

Pulisic equals career-best

The American has gone from strength to strength since joining Milan and last night, he bagged yet another assist. If we go by Transfermarkt’s data, it was his 11th assist of the season in all competitions, the 10th in the league.

Nevertheless, even if we go by Serie A’s data which has him at 8 assists (not including penalties won), he’s still top of the league along with Nuno Tavares, Romelu Lukaku and Rafael Leao. Furthermore, 11 assists is his career-best, which he set last season, and he now has at least seven games to improve that record.

First clean sheet in since February

The formation switch didn’t just help Milan score four goals, but also to keep a long-awaited clean sheet. It had been nine (!) consecutive games without one and it seemed to be a weight off Pavlovic’s shoulders based on his post-match interview.

While it will be difficult to keep a clean sheet against teams like Atalanta and Inter, Milan at least have to give themselves the chance to do so. A narrow win would be all it takes to reach the final of the Coppa Italia, after all, following the 1-1 draw in the first leg.