Evening to forget. For the Milan, badly defeated by psg, and for the Lazio, came out with broken bones from the clash with the Feyenoord. To improve things, at least in part, the results of the other matches, with the Newcastle defeated by Borussia Dortmund and theAtletico Madrid stopped at a draw by Celtic: Pioli and Sarri thus remain in full swing to qualify for the round of XNUMX, even if the return leg will have to be tackled at a decidedly greater speed.
Paris SG – Milan 3-0, a distracted and wasteful Devil falls under the blows of Mbappé, Kolo Muani and Lee
This applies above all to the Devil, who played a seriously inadequate first round. The two points collected, with last place attached, would already be enough to explain the situation, but to make everything even more frustrating is the number of goals scored, still stuck at zero. An embarrassing role, yet difficult to explain: in the three matches played so far, in fact, there have been many opportunities, even yesterday in the den of the most popular PSG. The sensation we had was of a Milan unprepared at these levels, not so much from a tactical point of view (even if the counterattacks granted to Mbappé and his teammates were too many), but from a technical and mental one. Too many mistakes in key moments, starting with Reijnders who does not foul Zaire-Emery and triggers the goal by Mbappé (32'), passing through Pulisic who wasted a sensational opportunity one-on-one with Donnarumma (with the result 1-0), until the Kolo Muani's 2-0 goal, born from an incredible carelessness on a corner (53'). The match ended there, so much so that Kang-In Lee's 3-0 served more to increase the sale of shirts in South Korea (no joke: his is more sought after than Mbappé's) than to extinguish the ambitions of Milan. The errors, therefore, weigh heavily on the score, but are not enough to explain it completely: key players such as Leao and Theo Hernandez made mistakes, as did Pulisic and the defensive line. It's difficult to do better with these premises, which is why Pioli will have to work a lot if he wants to reopen the qualification discussion: on November 7, in the return match, a much better Devil will be needed.
Pioli bitter: “I'm worried, we have to raise our level”
“A heavy result, but the team did what they had to do – sighed the Rossoneri coach -. From a technical point of view we should have done better, PSG then made good use of the opportunities they had. For an hour we had a good performance, even playing better than them, but then we conceded the second goal and gave up. We could have reopened it, but it's disappointing because it was an important match that we played well. I can't fault anything regarding the team's attitude, but PSG had more quality than us and decided the result. It's normal to be worried after two defeats in a row, but we have to raise our level because the group isn't over yet."
Feyenoord – Lazio 3-1, Gimenez and Zerrouki punish the timid and fearful Biancocelesti
Bad evening also for Lazio, who confirm their allergy to away games in Holland. After the two defeats last season in Europe (again Feyenoord) and Conference League (Az Alkmaar), another one arrived in the much more prestigious Champions League, this time with the best possible team. And so a group that seemed to be going downhill becomes incredibly complicated, because if it is true that a victory in the return match would bring the Biancocelesti back to the round of XNUMX, it is also true that then there will be the Madrid away match, moreover against an Atletico team still hunting for points. And to say that the conditions for doing well in Rotterdam were all there, given that the Biancocelesti were coming off three consecutive victories, in which they had found their game and confidence again. Exactly what was missing yesterday, where Sarri's team was literally crushed by the grip of De Kuip, the driving force of a Feyenoord who was bad at the right point and determined to take the 3 points. One came out one-sided first half, with Lazio forced to defend themselves like a boxer in difficulty, until the inevitable knockout blows from Gimenez (31') and Zerrouki (45+2'), which directed the match almost definitively. In the second half the Biancocelesti tried to play with more courage, but by then the omelette was done: the rest was done by Castellanos (bad mistake with an empty goal) and the usual Gimenez, author of the personal brace that closed everything. The Pedro's penalty it was only used for the scoreboards, certainly not to sweeten a very bitter defeat, which could have consequences on the continuation of the competition.
Sarri disappointed: "I expected more personality, now we're in deep trouble"
“We had a fearful first half, we were scared of their aggression and their pressure – theSarri's analysis -. We were too submissive even though we knew what awaited us, I expected a lot more personality. Now we have two games at home and we have to make the most of them, in a group of six games losing one could be problematic, furthermore if this is the attitude we can't do it. In a competition like the Champions League we are in deep water, we walk on tiptoe, we either give 101% or we can't keep up."
