After some less than stellar results of our own, Milan have taken the challenge of qualifying for the Champions League very seriously. So much so that they scored seven goals in one match, just to be sure of the three points. Poor Torino looked so dejected, but Pioli's men had a job to do, so they did it. And then some. Like pirates hell bent on getting the top four spot, tonight, Milan played to take no prisoners.
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| Sirigu was not spared... Rebic took no prisoners |
Torino started out with some dignity, at least for the first 15 minutes or so. They were physical, but not clinical, and they were made to pay for it immediately and repeatedly. The first goal was a brilliant Theo Hernandez shot from just outside of the box, with an assist from Brahim Diaz. 1-0 Milan.
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| Celebrating the first goal |
Immediately thereafter, Kessie's header was parried away by Sirigu, only to see Castillejo's rebound hit the post. A few minutes later, Castillejo was clear on goal, but Lyanco came in with a bad tackle, penalty for Milan. Kessie stepped up and took it, this time not allowing Sirigu the chance to save it. 2-0 Milan.
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| No mistake |
In the 36th, Calabria scored a nice goal, but it was called back for offside. Rebic would have had the assist on that one. In the 38th, Calhanoglu made basically the only defensive error with a lazy back pass that led to a Bremer shot, which Gigio thankfully saved. Bennacer got a yellow card toward the end of the half, which was likely why Pioli replaced him with the Torino-owned Meite at halftime.
The goalscoring picked back up and was relentless, beginning with Brahim's goal in the 50th minute, assisted by Kessie. 3-0 Milan. Kessie followed that up with a miss on an open net after a brilliant pass from Rebic. Literally, this score could have ended 10-0.
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| Two games, two goals and an assist. |
Theo Hernandez scored another goal in the 62nd minute, by lobbing it over Sirigu, with a Rebic assist. 4-0 Milan. This is probably the point where I started to think about the mental health of the Torino players.
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| Second goal of the night, one a rocket, one a perfect lob over Sirigu |
Five minutes later, Rebic got a goal of his own, with an assist by his friend Krunic, which made it 5-0 Milan. Ouch. But he didn't stop there. Five minutes after that, he scored again, this time assisted by Leao. 6-0 Milan. One would think that 6-0 was painful enough, but there was still almost 20 minutes left to play.
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| Another goal, this time with a Leao assist |
Torino continued to try to take shots, but Nicola's decision to leave Belotti on the bench and have Zaza play the whole match did not pay off for him. Who knew? Torino actually took 14 shots, two more than Milan, but only got one on target. Meanwhile, Milan were incredibly clinical with eight shots on target out of only 12 attempts. Their last goal was Rebic again, scoring with his knee, assisted again by Krunic. 7-0 Milan. SEVEN-NIL Milan.
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| It wasn't just the goalscorers, this was a team effort |
With a hat trick plus 2 assists by Rebic, a brace by Hernandez, and also a goal and an assist each from Brahim and Kessie as well as an assist from Leao, plus two assists from Krunic, Milan left Turin for a second time in three days, with the dignity of their opponents and three points in hand. There are still two matches left to play for that coveted Champions League spot. But Milan only need three more points to assure a top four finish. Cagliari, brace yourselves. Because this Milan takes no prisoners.
This post inspired by the music of Agent Orange's "Seek & Destroy"
Reviewed by Elaine
on
3:45 PM
Rating:
