Bianchin: Maignan’s penalty abilities have ‘vanished into thin air’ – no save in a year

Mike Maignan failed to keep out Juan Cuadrado’s penalty against Pisa last night, guessing the wrong way. As highlighted by Luca Bianchin, his penalty abilities seem to have ‘vanished into thin air’. 

It was a tough defeat to swallow for Milan, who had hopes of cementing their position at the top of the standings. Of course, Maignan isn’t exactly to blame for the outcome, although questions can perhaps be asked about his positioning on the second goal (which we highlighted in the ratings).

Nevertheless, the veteran Cuadrado got the best of the Frenchman, who guessed the wrong way and thus allowed the Colombian to slot it home. The saved penalties tally thus remains at zero for this season, even if he has only faced two of them.

One year and counting

As highlighted by Gazzetta dello Sport’s Luca Bianchin, in his first seasons with Milan, Maignan looked like a penalty specialist: Salah, Berardi, Depay, Kvara in the Champions League semi-finals and so on. In short, he was able to stop some very good players.

Photo by AC Milan

Sadly, this hasn’t been the case for some time. Cuadrado surprised him, and that’s fair enough, but it’s been over a year since Maignan last saved a penalty for Milan: Moise Kean in Fiorentina-Milan over a year ago.

Since that save, the Rossoneri have conceded four penalties with Maignan in goal. Even though the sample size is admittedly low, it’s still worth pointing out.