Milan were heading towards a comfortable win earlier this evening, with a 2-0 lead in the bag, but then Zlatan Ibrahimovic got sent off and Parma pulled one back. In the end, after what was a very nervy period, the Rossoneri secured the win thanks to a goal from Rafael Leao in stoppage time.
Stefano Pioli’s men looked a lot better than the performance against Sampdoria and had a 2-0 lead already in half-time. Ante Rebic opened the scoring with a great effort and Franck Kessie doubled the lead just before the break, scoring his 10th league goal of the season. It looked very comfortable, in other words.
After Ibrahimovic got sent off, however, Parma quickly managed to pull one back and Pioli even deployed a five-man backline to shut the shop. He succeeded as the two subs Diogo Dalot and Leao combined to score the third goal. Down below are the top three performers for the away side.
1. Franck Kessie
It was another dominating performance from the Ivorian at the centre of the park, helping out his teammates in both phases of the game. He, as mentioned, increased his tally to ten league goals for the season and this time it wasn’t a penalty. His presence on the pitch is hard to disregard, living up to his nickname ‘Il Presidente’.
As Opta revealed, Kessie is the first Rossoneri midfielder to score 10+ goals in the first 30 matches of a Serie A campaign since Kaká in 2008-09. Although a majority of his goal have come from the penalty spot, you simply can’t deny the importance of the former Atalanta man in this team, playing almost every game from start to finish.
2. Ante Rebic
The Croatian had a point to prove this afternoon after a relatively promising appearance off the bench against Sampdoria. He didn’t need a lot of time to find the back of the net, opening the scoring just eight minutes into the game. His strike certainly wasn’t too shabby either, finding the top left corner.
We all know that Rebic has these qualities so it’s been frustrating to see some of his performance this season. Hopefully, he’s on the right track now and since Ibrahimovic will be suspended for the game against Genoa, there will be some more pressure on the former Frankfurt man’s shoulders.
3. Diogo Dalot
The Man Utd loanee, who arrived ahead of the season, has had a far from perfect season with the Rossoneri, with several ups and downs. Today’s performance should certainly be considered within the first category, as he didn’t make any mistakes in the 20 minutes or so he got on the pitch.
He won several duels at the back and disrupted the play for Parma, who mainly wanted to attack on the left flank in the dying minutes of the game. That’s how he set up the third goal, pressing high and winning the ball with convincing defending. He then did everything right, setting Leao up for an easy goal.
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