CM: Sliding doors moment in Saudi – Hojlund shows Milan what they missed out on

The game between Napoli and AC Milan on Thursday night was the tale of two centre-forwards: Rasmus Hojlund and Christopher Nkunku.

As Calciomercato.com recall, all the strengths and weaknesses of the two teams emerged. For Milan it is the striker position, while that ended up being Napoli’s strength. Hojlund was simply devastating, providing a perfect assist for David Neres’ goal and then scoring his own goal to make it 2-0.

What could have been

Rafael Leao is the forward who has played the most minutes this season for Milan, but in reality, he’s played 43% of the total. This fact raises questions about the attacking emergency Massimiliano Allegri has been dealing with since the start of the season.

In the semi-final in Riyadh, he had no forwards on the bench to try to inject new life into an attack – comprised of Christian Pulisic and Nkunku – that was clearly struggling. Beyond the bad luck, the Rossoneri must question the mistakes made in the summer transfer window.

Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images

The coach had been asking since June for a true No.9 with different characteristics than Santiago Gimenez. Two main candidates were identified: Dusan Vlahovic and Hojlund, and there were difficulties in signing the former because of his huge salary.

Igli Tare and his team negotiated over the Danish striker for a month but it fell through due to disagreements over the terms of his transfer from Manchester United. Then, they turned to Nkunku and closed deal with Chelsea in a matter of hours for €38m, which raised some eyebrows.

A bitter sliding doors moment presented itself at the King Saud University Stadium as Hojlund eliminated Milan from another cup competition. With Niclas Füllkrug set to arrive from West Ham, Milan are moving to rectify a mistake, but will it be the right move?