Longoni: ‘Extraordinary impact’ – Rabiot shows exactly why Allegri strongly wanted him

Among the positive notes from AC Milan’s win over Bologna was the performance of midfielder Adrien Rabiot on debut.

Andrea Longoni published his weekly column for Calciomercato.com and – as part of his reflections on the game against Bologna – he praised Rabiot for his role in the victory.

“A narrow victory, but it could easily have been a long-range one. If only the referee had awarded at least one penalty, if only Gimenez had scored at least one of the easy goals he could have. ‘Ifs’ ​​and ‘buts’ don’t get you anywhere, but analysing the match, AC Milan fans should be satisfied,” he began.

“This is a team that’s giving up little to their opponents: yesterday Bologna had only one shot on target, and it wasn’t even dangerous. Their defence is much better than it was a year ago, but this improvement hasn’t penalised their play: you’re not covering up on one side and leaving yourself exposed on the other.

“Up front, we’re starting to see some interesting plays: Allegri’s men could easily have scored more than one goal. A special mention goes to Modric, who at 40 has once again proven to be an extraordinary champion: he starts the move and finishes it by scoring a crucial goal.

Photo – AC Milan

“Rabiot also deserves praise: after a couple of training sessions at Milanello, he looked like a veteran of this team. Running, quantity, quality, physicality: an invaluable player. We immediately saw why the coach wanted him so strongly and how much the Frenchman knows by heart what the coach wants from a player in his position. Extraordinary impact.”

Why Allegri wanted Rabiot

Rabiot made his first start for Milan despite having only done his first full training session a few days prior, and that followed a deadline day move from Marseille during which he had to do a medical while with the French national team. In short, he might have had an excuse for starting slowly.

Instead, Rabiot had an 85% pass completion rate, he touched the ball 52 times, won 11 duels, completed four dribbles and played all 99 minutes including stoppage time. It shows just why Allegri was so keen to sign the all-action midfielder.