“The Ukrainian winger spent 72 minutes on the field, was active, had several goal-scoring opportunities, but, like his team, could not score.”, — write: champions.football.ua
The Ukrainian winger spent 72 minutes on the field, was active, had several goal-scoring opportunities, but, like his team, could not score.
The Rossoneri, with all their troubles in the course of the season under the leadership of the “not so” Paulo Fonseca, managed to keep their place in the fight for the zone of direct entry to the 1/8 finals, and now the fate of the team in the final two depended on the successful work of Sergio Conceisan tour And Michel’s wards, meanwhile, in their debut draw, simply got to know the local atmosphere and, in principle, said goodbye to all chances of reaching the next round in advance.
However, the Spanish team still fought for a result at San Siro, which the Milan players will definitely not lie about. Almost instantly, the home team lost Emerson due to injury, so Calabria had to appear on the field already in the fourth minute. And when he began to squat down on the lawn with damage during the game, Conceisan’s heart held on with its last strength – Kyle Walker had not yet arrived.
Returning directly to the events on the field, it can be noted that the first half passed as dynamically and quickly as possible. Milan may have had a certain advantage both in sharpness and, in the end, in execution, but Girona’s flanks worked very actively and Megnana’s penalty area was restless. Needless to say, if the “Rossoneri” goalkeeper made at least three great saves before the break, once saving Tsygankov from a shot.
But Milan scored, and this goal did not come as a surprise to anyone. Because until the moment with Leau’s shot in the 37th minute, the situations of Theo and Musa looked much more favorable, but the former hit the crossbar from a few meters, and the latter hit the left post from a distance from the right wing. But the Portuguese both dealt with the defenders and broke over the ears of Hassaniga – brilliantly.
In this way, Conceisan’s team won a difficult first half, after which they tried to actively start the second half, but Gassaniga was already played well, and when this happens to him, it is very difficult to break him even with the attacks of Milan’s attack leaders from close range. And they did not insist on it too much, and in the end the hosts sat down in defense and fought off other people’s attacks.
At the same time, Tsygankov rushed as if in front of other people’s possessions and after the break he executed exactly more punches than before, but all of them did not bother Menyan. But Khil, on the 57th minute, caused trouble from the right wing of the penalty box in the far nine, and how, but from offside, so the celebration of a beautiful goal had to be postponed.
As it turned out later, it was postponed forever, because the guests never managed to turn at least one of their flank attacks into a scored goal, and at the same time, the further this game went, the more Michel’s team began to barely drag their feet on the field. Obviously, over time, the excitement simply left the Catalans, and Milan relatively calmly brought the matter to a victorious conclusion.
In the final round, the Italian Milan will visit Dinamo Zagreb, while the Catalan Girona will host the London Arsenal.
Milan — Girona 1:0
Goal: Leau, 37
Milan: Mainan – Emerson (Calabria, 4), Pavlovich, Gabbia, Hernandez – Fofana, Bennasser (Pulisic, 75) – Musa, Reynders (Terracciano, 75), Leau – Morata (Abraham, 64).
Girona: Gassaniga — Frances, D. Lopez, Krejci, Blind — Herrera (Porto, 77), Romeu, van de Beek (Asprilha, 72) — Tsygankov (Martin, 64), Gil (Danjuma, 72) — Ruiz (Stuani, 72).
Warning: Calabria, Hernandez – Gil, Martin