AC Milan trail Roma 1-0 following the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final at San Siro. The game’s only goal came in controversial circumstances, with a suspected offside in the attack that led to the corner kick that Gianluca Mancini scored from.
The Rossoneri may have edged the possession share (54%) and doubled their opponent’s shots (20-10), but the visitors are deserving of their advantage at the halfway point of this tie. Thirteen of Milan’s twenty shots were from outside the penalty area, highlighting Roma’s effectiveness in defending their box.
Olivier Giroud could have levelled the scoreline in the 87th minute, after good work out wide from substitute Samuel Chukwueze, but the French centre-forward only managed to hit the bar from five yards out. Post-match, both Stefano Pioli and captain, Davide Calabria, spoke of how Roma put the home team in “difficulty” in the first half.
Here to analyse just why that was, is @Tactics_Tweets to provide his tactical observations on the game.
Milan’s defensive difficulty
In the opening fifteen minutes of the game, Roma had 59% possession – their highest share of the ball than at any other stage of the match. Part of the reason for this success in retaining the ball was Daniele De Rossi clearly instructing his players on how to exploit the potential weaknesses in Milan’s defensive set-up.
Out of possession, like in recent games against Fiorentina and Lecce, Pioli’s side kept Rafael Leão higher up the pitch, alongside Giroud. In behind this forward line of two were four midfielders and a back four. Tijjani Reijnders was the player, when Milan were without the ball, who would be positioned as the left-sided midfielder.
In the visual below, from the 2nd minute, you can see the top half of this 4-4-2. Leão and Giroud positioned themselves in reference to the Roma centre-backs whilst Pulisic had the task of covering, and tracking, left-back, Leonardo Spinazzola. In central midfield, Roma used a double pivot and in this instance, Ruben Loftus-Cheek engaged Leandro Paredes and Ismaël Bennacer did the same to Bryan Cristante.
In this action, Milan were transitioning from a settled defensive shape into their player-orientated pressing scheme. The problem for the hosts came in the form of Paulo Dybala. The Argentine’s deeper positioning gave Reijnders an issue. Firstly, it delayed his jump out to right-back, Zeki Çelik, who in this passage of play was an easy out ball for Roma. And secondly, Reijnders knew if he could not stop Çelik’s forward pass then Dybala would be left free in behind.
