AC Milan hosted Atalanta last Sunday for a game that meant a lot to Atalanta, who won 1-0 and consolidated their third spot in the Serie A table, with now four crucial points separating them from fourth-placed Bologna.
On the other hand, the Rossoneri lost another vital match, continuing their slow decline and extinguishing any hopes of participating in a European tournament next season.
Milan’s season has been catastrophic so far, as they currently sit in 9th place with 51 points, far from securing European qualification.
For Atalanta, things are different, as they are very close to securing UEFA Champions League participation for next season.
They are also putting on some solid performances, despite their elimination from the Champions League by Club Brugge.
In this tactical analysis, we will explore what happened in both halves, analysing Milan and Atalanta’s tactics and focusing on what went wrong for Milan.
The analysis will also shed light on both teams’ attacking performances and look at the plans behind their formation changes.
AC Milan Vs Atalanta 2024/2025 Lineups
Sérgio Conceição started the match in a 3-4-3 formation, which the team has been using since the encounter with Udinese.
The AC Milan lineup was composed of Mike Maignan as the goalkeeper, Matteo Gabbia, Strahinja Pavlović, and Fikayo Tomori as centre-backs, Théo Hernandez, Tijjani Reijnders, Youssouf Fofana, and Álex Jiménez as the midfield four, with Hernandez and Jiménez as the two wing-backs.
Up front, Conceição’s formation opted for Luka Jović as a striker, Rafael Leão, and Christian Pulisic as wingers.
On the other hand, Gian Piero Gasperini Atalanta started the match using his typical 3-4-3 formation, knowing that Atalanta is more experienced as a team in playing according to this system compared to Milan.
The Atalanta lineup was composed of Marco Carnesecchi as goalkeeper, Raoul Bellanova, Isak Hien, and Berat Djimsiti as centre-backs, Marten de Roon and Éderson as central midfielders, Juan Cuadrado and Davide Zappacosta as wing-backs, Mario Pašalić and Ademola Lookman as wingers, while Mateo Retegui was the team’s striker.
AC Milan Counterattacking Vs Atalanta Possession-Based First-Half
AC Milan began the match with the intention of playing an attacking game.
However, they failed to do so in a remarkable way during the first half, mainly because they didn’t have possession and failed to dominate the game or play inside Atalanta’s half.
At the same time, Milan relied on counter-attacks to create the danger needed even though the counter-attacks lacked the crucial finishing touch.
On the other hand, it was Atalanta who had more possession, attempting to exploit spaces inside Milan’s final third through recurrent penetrations, especially from the wings by Cuadrado and Lookman.
Both players were crucial in going for duels and cutting inside at times, as well as crossing towards the box at other times, for Retegui and the players coming from the back.
Retegui’s movements were also crucial for Atalanta, but the striker was tightly marked throughout the first half.
Pašalić’s role was significant as well, especially in providing passing options for Cuadrado on the right wing and in attracting players to mark him in order to free the space for Cuadrado to advance and cross without being disturbed.
Despite that, Atalanta lacked realism and finishing in the final third, as they failed to create dangerous opportunities or shoot on goal in the first half, despite having an advantageous possession.
Rafael Leão Missed Opportunity
Milan’s initial attempts started with passes in depth towards Leão, like Fofana’s through pass at the 23rd minute that went in Leão’s direction.
Still, the latter failed to coordinate his body to make the next move following the control.
This type of pass and movement from Leão towards the centre to replace Jović was a recurring feature in this game, creating the necessary spaces for Milan.
However, the problem was that the team’s attacking players did not effectively exploit these opportunities in this game.
A few minutes later, Leão had a goalscoring chance following a swift counter-attacking action from Milan, which started with Jović.
Reijnders then provided the through pass in space to Leão.
The latter did not exploit this opportunity as needed, as he attempted to lean towards the right to position himself to fix the goalkeeper and prepare for shooting.
However, Leão did not expect Bellanova to be quick enough to catch him and win the duel before he shot.
This represented poor decision-making on the part of Leão.
He could have continued his run without cutting inside, at least until reaching the box, in order to avoid being disturbed by Bellanova so early.
Such decisive decision-making cost Milan the three points at the end of the game, as this chance was among the most crucial ones for Milan.
Mateo Retegui Goalscoring Opportunity
As Atalanta exploited Rafael Leão’s lack of defensive support at times, they also focused on Hernandez’s defensive weaknesses by concentrating their actions on the agile Cuadrado and Pašalić, who moved a lot without the ball and created the necessary danger at the back of Milan’s defence.
Atalanta were close to scoring in the 24th minute when Pašalić exploited the fact that Hernandez was alone on the right wing and played a one-two combination before attacking the free space behind Hernandez.
This type of action helped Atalanta reach the box faster and allowed them to cross to Retegui, like Pašalić did in this example.
However, Retegui’s finish was not as accurate as needed, as he was also tightly marked.
Rafael Leão Penetrations To The Box
Atalanta made several attempts from the left wing as well, as Lookman was very agile on that wing and had the advantage over his direct opponent, Jiménez, on many occasions.
At the 31st minute, Atalanta got closer to Maignan’s goal following a great work from Lookman on the left side before crossing the ball to the far post, where Cuadrado did his best to reach the ball but was inches away from shooting the ball towards the net.
Although Conceição declared after the game that they were aware of Atalanta’s plan of crosses towards the far post, the team was unable to stop or intercept those crosses during this match.
Despite that, Milan kept relying on counterattacks based mainly on Leão’s penetrations without the ball towards the middle.
At the same time, Jović leaned towards the wings and retreated on many occasions to receive and pass the ball upfront.
Jović’s role was vital in terms of leaving space to Leão’s central penetrations, but the latter lacked the needed balance and crucial decision-making most of the time when he received passes in that area.
The following example of an opportunity created at the 35th minute highlights one of the many times during which Leão failed to add the final touch and lost the ball to Cuadrado following an excellent ball control of Fofana’s key cross.
Luka Jović Feints & Shot
A few minutes later, Jović confirmed once again that he deserves to be given more chances in the future as he was intelligent enough to exploit the single key pass he received during this first-half perfectly.
The only issue in this action was that the ball went inches away from goal, as Jović controlled the ball perfectly and turned quickly to escape from Bellanova’s marking and clear the way for himself to shoot using his left foot.
Nevertheless, his movement with the ball as soon as he received it was exceptional.
Atalanta’s Exploitation Of Milan’s Defensive Issues & The Rossoneri’s Missed Second-Half Chances
Milan started the second half more diversely and directly, attempting to surprise Atalanta by taking more risks in attack and playing more vertically to threaten them more dangerously.
During the first minutes of the second half, Milan shot on goal more times than they had in the entire first half, seriously threatening Atalanta and coming close to scoring.
Yet, they were unable to finish their actions in a crucial way.
Atalanta succeeded in either saving their shots thanks to Carnesecchi or intercepting the ball thanks to their efficient man-marking defensive system in this match.
Moreover, Gasperini made his defensive changes following Milan’s dangerous attacks at the start of the second half in order to limit the Rossoneri’s threat, especially since some players, such as Cuadrado, had already received yellow cards.
Éderson Goal & AC Milan Marking Mistakes
During Milan’s best moment of the match, Atalanta scored a very beautiful goal thanks to Éderson’s header, following a quick and well-organised counterattack that made it difficult for Milan players to mark everyone.
This, however, does not mean that Milan defended that action well, since they are responsible for conceding such a goal due to poor marking inside the box and ineffective reactions to Atalanta’s counterattack.
In particular, Fofana and Reijnders can be blamed for not retreating as quickly as needed.
More importantly, Hernandez should not be allowing similar penetrations at his back, knowing that he allowed Bellanova to receive Lookman’s cross while running at his back, providing an assist to Éderson who was coming from the back, and neither Gabbia nor Pavlović were able to prevent him from scoring.
Mateo Retegui Second Goal Chance & Strahinja Pavlović Clearance
Afterwards, the game became less complicated for Atalanta, who knew how to limit their opponent’s danger by continuing their efficient man-marking and refreshing their defence with tough defenders like Rafael Tolói and Odilon Kossounou, as well as the defensive midfielder Ibrahim Sulemana.
Atalanta then offered the ball to Milan while retreating to defend their lead, but remained ready to launch quick counter-attacks to try and add a second goal.
La Dea was very close to adding that second goal at the 73rd minute when Lookman penetrated from the left wing to the box and gave a through pass to Retegui.
However, the latter missed the goalscoring chance as Pavlović was crucial in clearing the ball away miraculously.
João Félix Inability To Exploit The Last Dangerous Chance
During the final minutes of the game, Milan switched to a 4-2-4 formation, with Santiago Giménez and Tammy Abraham as strikers, Samuel Chukwueze as a right winger, and João Félix as a left winger.
In fact, these numerous changes caused some confusion within Milan as the players themselves took some time to apply the needed instructions.
This forced the team to lose some precious time.
At the same time, Atalanta exploited it by organising themselves better and relying on dangerous counterattacks, such as Lookman’s chance at the 89th minute, which he could have scored.
That being said, Milan did reach Atalanta’s goal in the 89 miniute.
Félix had the chance to equalize but ultimately failed to control the ball.
Conclusion
Atalanta were the better side in this match, and that’s why they deserve the three points.
At the same time, Milan deserved a bit more than a loss.
They centianlly could have also exploited their chances better, knowing that they were successful in creating remarkable opportunities during the match.
This also means that Milan still need a lot of organisational and tactical work in order to regain confidence and especially fix what can be fixed ahead of the new season.
Their subsequent encounter against Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia will be crucial in determining whether they will participate in European competitions next season.
