AC Milan beat Real Madrid 1-0 in front of a packed crowd at Soldier Field stadium as Carlo Ancelotti’s side began their pre-season tour of the United States with defeat in Chicago.
This was the second game of Milan’s pre-season — and it showed. They comfortably played out a deserved victory against a weakened Madrid team.
Despite starting the promising Arda Guler and Endrick, last season’s La Liga and Champions League winners were missing 10 senior players who have yet to join the pre-season squad, including Jude Bellingham and new signing Kylian Mbappe, who won’t play a part in the tour.
Samuel Chukwueze and Davide Calabria both had early chances to put Milan in front but were denied by Thibaut Courtois in the first half. Then, after Madrid had made several changes, introducing more inexperienced players, Chukwueze found the net in the 55th minute, shooting past Andriy Lunin.
Madrid’s makeshift defence suffered several lapses and a dominant Milan also hit the crossbar, but Ancelotti’s team did at least rally in the closing 10 minutes when they finally came close to scoring an equaliser.
Guillermo Rai and Paul Tenorio analyse the main talking points from the game.
Endrick a brief but bright spark
He only played 45 minutes and he didn’t score, but Madrid’s latest young Brazilian star Endrick made a good impression on his first appearance in the shirt — up against a Milan defence that was ready for him.
Milan’s defenders didn’t want to give the 18-year-old any time or space with the ball at his feet and they were quick to pressure him, at times also committing fouls to stop him running on goal.
Despite this, and his age, Endrick didn’t look nervous at all and he combined well with Guler and Brahim Diaz, finding them several times and creating some dangerous chances. He even tried a couple of long-range passes as he was playing as a number 10.
Endrick was one of several players replaced at half-time (Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Endrick at times looked frustrated but he still insisted in attack and he also helped out in defence, showing a lot of personality on the pitch.
When asked by The Athletic for his opinion, Ancelotti sounded impressed in his post-match press conference. “What I see is that he has something special,” the Italian said. “He’s able to get to top speed in space, he’s very skilful on the edge of the box.
“In this sense he is a great talent. It’s quite rare to see a player with this kind of characteristics.”
Guillermo Rai
New Samu is a good Samu
After providing two assists in Milan’s 3-2 win over Manchester City at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, Chukwueze was again effective on Wednesday against Madrid playing in an attacking line that featured a number of younger players.
The Nigerian winger flashed some good moments when he got on the ball in the first half, and he scored the opener in the second, slotting home in the 55th minute — albeit against a Madrid team that was by then made up mostly of reserves.
Chukwueze, who was named man of the match, nearly set up a second goal less than five minutes later and then combined with Christian Pulisic for another good chance in the 74th minute.
Chukwueze scored the game’s only goal in the second half (Ben Hsu/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Chukwueze, who had three goals and three assists in 1,380 minutes across all competitions with Milan last season, said after the City game that he felt confident under new coach Paulo Fonseca and vowed that fans will “see a new Samu this year”. Two strong performances to start the American pre-season tour are an indicator that the 25-year-old may very be comfortable in Fonseca’s system and primed for a strong campaign.
“I’m really happy with Chuku because he’s doing really, really well,” Fonseca said. “I think he’s showing his quality. I believe he will be an important player in the team and will make a difference.”
Paul Tenorio
Eleven Madrid youngsters, one takes the chance
It is true that this defeat should not be taken too seriously because of the absentees in Ancelotti’s team, but the Madrid youth players involved still could have done better with the expectations placed on them.
Many seemed weighed down by nervousness and several made mistakes that are not usual for them, especially in the case of Raul Asencio and Mario Martin. Only Joan Martinez was really in tune.
Martinez makes a challenge on Alejandro Jimenez (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
At just 16 years old, he was the youngest of them to feature, but the centre-back looked assured in all his defensive actions after replacing Antonio Rudiger for the second half. His ball control was also impeccable and he even came close to scoring with a header in the 90th minute.
Lucas Vazquez, who knows all too well how difficult it is for a Madrid-developed youngster to establish themselves in the first team, praised him in the mixed zone: “I wasn’t here when I was 16,” Vazquez said. “The truth is that he is an incredible kid and a centre-back with a brutal projection.”
An impressed Ancelotti added: “He has everything a centre-back needs.”
Guillermo Rai
Musah impresses, Pulisic goes 25 minutes
While Pulisic may be the bigger American star, it was 21-year-old USMNT player Yunus Musah who especially caught Fonseca’s eye.
Musah entered in the 66th minute and had some nice moments in midfield. The 21-year-old looked strong and confident on the ball, and seemed set to prove a point.
“I’ve known Musah (for) many years, but I didn’t see him in this context, in this kind of game,” Fonseca said. “In 30 minutes, what he did, it was amazing with just a few days of working with us. Of course he has to learn, to improve many things, but in my opinion he has the right characteristics to play this position in our game.”
Musah had an impressive game in the Milan midfield (Kamil Krzaczynski /AFP via Getty Images)
As for Pulisic, he played just 10 minutes against City but he got a longer runout against Madrid. The 25-year-old came on in a central role, essentially as a false nine, and nearly got a goal. Chukwueze found his feet on a sprinting inside-out run, but Pulisic was unable to beat Lunin from the right side of the box as he tried to sneak a shot inside the far post.
But Pulisic’s best moment may have come in the 86th minute, when he tracked back into his own penalty area to make a goal-saving sliding block on a Fran Garcia shot. Fonseca also praised his quality and said he expects him to have another big year for Milan.
Paul Tenorio
What next for Madrid?
Saturday, August 3: Barcelona (New Jersey), 7pm ET, 12am BST (August 4)
What next for Milan?
Wednesday, August 7: Barcelona (Baltimore), 7.30pm ET, 12.30am BST (August 4)
(Top photo: Pedro Castillo/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
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