Paulo Fonseca reflected on AC Milan’s 3-1 defeat against Liverpool in the Champions League at San Siro. The Rossoneri took the lead through Christian Pulisic but were on the back foot for the remainder of the match, with Liverpool equalising through Ibrahima Konaté, before Virgil Van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai secured the win. The Milan coach analyzed the match, saying:
“We played against Liverpool, which is a great team. We started well both offensively and defensively. But then we conceded two goals from set pieces, which changed the game and our mental balance. We had prepared man-marking on their two central defenders, but we had problems executing what we had prepared. In this type of match, you can’t make mistakes. Today Liverpool proved to be more of a team than us. We need to improve our consistency throughout all 90 minutes.”
Fonseca addressed the issue of not utilizing Rafael Leão effectively: “We had prepared switches of play from the right to free Rafa in one-on-one situations, but we only did it two or three times.”
He also highlighted defensive vulnerabilities: “We are too permeable in the defensive phase, both individually and collectively.”
Regarding the team’s formation and player positions, Fonseca clarified: “We don’t play with a 4-3-3, and Reijnders is not a number 10. I don’t see him in between Fofana and Loftus-Cheek.”