2 hours ago
33
AC Milan extended their unbeaten run to 23 games, and their winning run to to games, after scoring twice against Pisa last night.
Goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Luka Modric were enough to secure all three points for the Rossoneri, but as we will get into, it wasn’t as easy as they perhaps would have wanted. Then again, the win is all that matters in the end.
An easy game made difficult
Even if the first half was a little bit slow, as Gazzetta dello Sport pointed out this morning, Milan definitely should have clinched three points rather comfortably. They dominated possession, forced Pisa to run a lot and also got into good positions.
If Niclas Füllkrug had put the penalty away, for example, it would have been a completely different story. The stats are pretty clear too, with more big chances created, a higher xG (also thanks to the penalty) and possession domination.
Important runs and tallies equalled
Thanks to the win, Milan equalled their second-best tally after the first 24 league matches in the three-points-per-win era, with 53 points (like in 1995-96). Furthermore, they equalled their third-longest unbeaten run in Serie A, now on 23 games (like in 1992-1993).
In short, the turnaround that the Rossoneri have done since last season is remarkable in every sense of the word. Another game without defeat would help them equal the second-best run of 24 games, while the best was a whopping 34 games in 1991-92.
Bartesaghi putting in the work
The youngster was involved quite a lot in the attack in the first half, but as the game went on, his role became more defensive. Especially when Milan switched to four men at the back and played a lot on the right-hand side.
As highlighted by Rising Stars, Bartesaghi made more tackles than any other player on the pitch last night, coming in at 7 successful tackles (9 attempted). While he has been heavily praised for his crossing and attacking contributions, he can clearly defend too.
🇮🇹📈 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐇𝐈 (𝟐𝟎) was the player with 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐋𝐄𝐒 (𝟕) in Pisa vs AC Milan yesterday
𝐓𝐎𝐏 𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋-𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 🤩 pic.twitter.com/2gfUfxfFto
— Rising Stars XI (@RisingStarXI) February 14, 2026
Man on a mission
Loftus-Cheek bagged his second goal in as many games for Milan last night, finding the back of the net with a lovely header. It’s something that we used to see him do quite a lot under Stefano Pioli, i.e. getting into the box and using his size.
Clearly, he’s on a mission to show that he deserves more game time and considering his current form, it would be very difficult to drop him now. Another thing worth mentioning, as we said in the ratings too, is that he actually played well aside from the goal.
Speaking of goalscorers, Modric got the winner and thus became the third-oldest player to have scored in the Serie A after Alessandro Costacurta (41 years and 25 days) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (41 years and 166 days).
English (US) ·