Serie A: Venezia vs AC Milan Player Ratings as the Rossoneri pick up a hard-fought victory

AC Milan secured a hard-fought 2-0 victory against Venezia, in what turned out to be a tricky fixture for the Rossoneri. Brahim Diaz scored the opener in the 68th minute from a Theo Hernandez cross, who then scored a goal himself in the 82d minute to seal the victory for Stefano Pioli’s men.

With that victory, AC Milan maintained their unbeaten record in the league and kept themselves level on points with their city rivals Inter. Venezia have now slumped to their fourth defeat in the first 5 matches of the campaign and are languishing at the 18th position.

AC MILAN PLAYER RATINGS

Mike Maignan 6.5/10

The goalkeeper was rarely called into action as Milan dictated most of the play, but was good with his feet, distributing the ball comfortably.

Matteo Gabbia 6.5/10

The Italian defender was solid at the back and notched up a pass percentage of 88%. He won 3 aerial battles throughout the match and kept Venezia’s strikers in check.

Alessio Romagnoli 7/10

Another commanding performance from the center-back, and made an impeccable sliding challenge to deny Venezia a clear-cut goal-scoring chance at the start of the second half.

Pierre Kalulu 6.5 /10

A decent performance from the right-back, who tracked back very well whenever defending counters from Venezia.

Fodé Ballo-Touré

The French left-back showed glimpses of his blistering pace running down the left flank but failed to conjure up something meaningful to help his side.

Alessandro Florenzi 6/10

A rather insipid performance from the Italian, in attack who was eventually replaced by Saelemakers at the hour mark.

Ismael Bennacer 6/10

The midfielder provided the cross which ultimately led to Milan’s opening goal. He was precise with his passing and pulled the strings from the center of the park for Stefano Pioli’s side.

Sandro Tonali 7/10

The midfield general was once again outstanding in the middle of the park for Milan, helping the side build from the back and also put in the hard yards when his side was out of possession.

Brahim Diaz 7/10

The youngster continued his hot run of form for the Rossoneri, running in behind space constantly to link up with Rafael Leao and Rebic in attack. He was finally rewarded with the goal, scoring a tap-in from Theo Hernandez’s cross.

Rafael Leao 7.5/10

One of Milan’s brightest performers in attack for Milan, before they scored the goal. He pulled out 7 successful dribbles in the match, most by any player in the entire 90 minutes.

Ante Rebic 7.5/10

A poor performance from the striker, who did not offer much upfront. He was subbed off for the final 15 minutes of the match.

SUBSTITUTES

Saelemakers 7.5/10

An excellent outing for the attacking midfielder, who came on at the hour mark. He made an intricate run into Venezia’s defense before picking out Theo Hernandez perfectly at the back post.

Theo Hernandez 8.5/10

A super-sub performance from the left-back as he scored the second goal and put in an inch-perfect cross for Brahim Diaz’s goal for Milan.

Frank Kessie 6.5/10

Came out for the final ten minutes of the match and immediately linked up with Saelemakers to set up the second goal.

Fikayo Tomori 6.5/10

The defender came on for Gabbia to shore things up at the back as Milan looked to score the first goal. He made a few important blocks towards the end of the match to help keep the clean sheet.

VENEZIA PLAYER RATINGS

Niki Maenpaa 6/10

Pulled off a couple of decent saves, but had nothing much to do to prevent both of the goals scored by the away side.

Tyronne Ebuehi 7/10

Impressed for most of the match with a few attacking runs for Venezia in the first half. The defender was pushed back further in the latter stages of the match and wasn’t much at fault.

Mattia Caldara 6/10

The central defender played out a decent match but failed to keep Brahim Diaz at bay, as the youngster tapped in to score the opener.

Pietro Ceccaroni 5.5/10

The central defender was largely at fault for giving the ball away far too often and his positioning was often poor as Rebic found space inside the box more than once.

Cristian Molinaro 5/10

The left-back was not seen much in the Milan half but was decent with his passing. The defender made a last-ditch challenge on Diaz to stop the winger from getting free in the first half.

Dor Peretz  5/10 

The Israeli midfielder missed a golden chance in the first half and was subbed off just after the halftime break.

Gianluca Busio-  6/10

The American midfielder was full of running for Venezia. He kept out the likes of Brahim and Rebic from linking up in the first half.

Antonio Junior Vacca  /10

Failed to provide much inspiration in attack and largely had to chase after the ball as Milan dominated most of the possession.

Mattia Aramu  6/10

Often found himself isolated in attack and failed to link up with the midfield play. He was ineffective for most of the match and did not have the ideal match.

Dennis Johnsen 6/10 

The winger was probably the best player for the home side, who was full of running and held the ball well to inject some attacking threat from Venezia.

Francesco Forte 6/10

The midfielder was taken off just after the break after the manager had seen enough from the striker.

SUBSTITUTES

Domen Crnigoj 5.5/10

The right-winger replaced Dor Peretz as Venezia looked to become more potent in attack. He was well marshaled by Kolo Toure and Theo Hernandez and failed to provide any real threat.

Thomas Henry 5.5/10

He was brought on in the 3rd minute to give Venezia more of an attacking threat, but the striker did not receive any decent service to provide the breakthrough for the hosts.

Pasqualle Mazocchi 5/10

The right-back was sent on for Ebuehi but couldn’t conjure up something for Venezia during his 15-minute stay on the pitch.

David Okereke 6/10

The striker was sent on to score the equalizer and did well making himself a threat in the box. Okereke won 2 aerial balls but unfortunately could not keep his efforts on target.

Tanner Tesmann N/A

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