Brahim Diaz scored the only goal of the game to help AC Milan produce one of the narrow football scores of the weekend in the Champions League. After seven minutes, Diaz, a former winger for Manchester City, blasted the ball home from close range. Spurs were fortunate to avoid greater deficits in the dying minutes when Milan missed two glorious headed opportunities through Charles De Ketelaere and Malick Thiaw. Instead, Conte will be relieved to return from a hostile San Siro with a deficit of only one goal after being obliged to start an Oliver Skipp and Pape Sarr central midfield partnership because of Rodrigo Bentancur’s injury and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s suspension.
Skipp and Sarr made their full Champions League debuts and did well considering the circumstances, but in a game that was mostly cagey, Spurs—who were defeated 4-1 by Leicester in the Premier League on Saturday—found it tough to get past the resolute hosts. The team’s personnel concerns will persist in the second leg at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Eric Dier will be suspended after receiving a yellow card, but the one-goal deficit means that Conte and his players still have a chance to win the match.
After the 4-1 loss to Leicester, Conte said that some of his players struggled under pressure. Milan’s early goal at a boisterous San Siro seemed to support this assertion. Theo Hernandez scored after outpacing Cristian Romero to a long cross on the left and forcing Fraser Forster to parry. Forster then somehow stopped Diaz’s follow-up, but Theo Hernandez drove the loose ball into the net with a diving header. However, after the early goal, Spurs quickly got into the game, causing issues for the hosts with a succession of set-piece deliveries, while not producing any clear chances in the first half. This is despite having to fight hard to contain the dangerous Rafael Leao.
As Milan sprung forward on the counterattack, the careless Romero collided with Sandro Tonali and was only given a booking. However, VAR upheld the referee’s decision to not send him off. After that, the game proceeded in the same vein, with Leao the only player giving Milan a spark and Spurs failing to convert their possession into scoring opportunities despite several threatening moments. To enhance his team’s offensive threat, Conte substituted Richarlison for Dejan Kulusevski, but his team could only manage sporadic half-chances, with the excellent Sarr shooting too close to Milan goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu from a distance.
After Oliver Giroud had nodded a cross back into the danger zone, the hosts had two excellent chances to seal the victory. Defender Thiaw missed one after being found by Leao in an even better position, while substitute De Ketelaere missed the other. Spurs sought to make up for Milan’s errors at the other end of the field with a header of their own from a corner, but Dier’s attempt failed to connect properly. Diaz’s goal ultimately proved to be the game-winner, leaving the tie intriguingly poised for the second leg.
“Both teams, in my opinion, exerted a lot of pressure and played the game really intensely. We had a hard time playing, they had a hard time playing,” Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte said. “It was unfortunate that we gave up a goal after only five minutes since I believe we were in a much better position to respond. Then we made an attempt, but when playing against Milan, you have to be careful when you attack in order to stop the counter-attack because they have players like (Rafael) Leao, Theo Hernandez, and a point of reference like (Olivier) Giroud who, if they have space, can murder you. We have to play in the home stadium for the second game, and our supporters will create the atmosphere that will enable us to get beyond the Milan challenge.”
“With all the duels, the tactical preparation for this game wasn’t difficult, but I am quite pleased with how my players played,” AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli said. “We had several excellent chances to score a second goal. Although the performance was excellent, this was only the first leg, and the next game will undoubtedly be harder.”
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