AC Milan 0-1 Atalanta: Ederson nets winner as Rossoneri fall to 10th league defeat

AC Milan’s struggles against sides above them in the league continued as they were beaten 1-0 by Atalanta at San Siro on Sunday night.

After a balanced first half, the only goal of the game came just past the hour mark and it was against the run of play in truth. Ederson was the man who got it and it would be enough for Gian Piero Gasperini’s side to earn them a win that should book a top four spot.

Milan’s misery continues as they hit double digits in Serie A losses for the season, and they lost further ground on the European places. It also means that Atalanta have done the double over the Rossoneri.

For the first time since his arrival at the end of December, Sergio Conceicao named an unchanged starting line-up for consecutive league games. That meant the three-man defence remained, with Christian Pulisic, Luka Jovic and Rafael Leao the front three.

The first 10 minutes were perhaps unsurprisingly quite open, but the two sides trades corner kicks more than they did chances, with the quality of the set piece delivery not causing any problems for either defence.

It was a case of all bark and no bite from both sides, without a single shot coming in the opening 20 minutes barring a header from Ederson that never threatened. That being said, the matching up of the 3-4-3/3-4-2-1 systems did make for an interesting tactical duel.

Atalanta had the lion’s share of possession as Milan seemed happy to sit off in a compact block and wait for their moments to counter. It was risky when the away side got down the sides, and in the 25th minute Retegui volleyed a Pasalic cross wide of the near post.