After a dreadful performance, the defending European champions lost their second league match.

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In the Spanish capital, AC Milan defeated the Champions League winners 3-1, exposing Real Madrid’s defensive weaknesses once more as their potent offense fell silent.

Three well-executed goals were scored against Carlo Ancelotti’s team, and they were never able to generate any momentum in the closing third. Particularly, Kylian Mbappe appeared irritated as his collaboration with Vinicius Jr. persisted.

Milan had a better start and were reasonably priced for their first game. Malick Thiaw headed home after Christian Pulisic set it up with an inch-perfect corner.

Mbappe nearly scored for Madrid right away, but Mike Maignan stopped him with one of his nine saves of the evening. On 23 minutes, however, Emerson Royal needlessly brought his fellow Brazilian down in the box, and Vinicius equalized from the penalty spot. Milan scored again shortly before half time, though, as Alvaro Morata turned home from close-range after Andriy Lunin parried Rafael Leao’s snapshot.

Madrid had greater attacking intent in the second half, but Milan took advantage of their frightfully exposed position on the break. At the center of it all was Leao, who scored a 3-1 lead by destroying Lucas Vazquez and then finding a wide-open Tijjani Reijnders. Antonio Rudiger fired a beautiful strike into the bottom corner to give Los Blancos a chance to tie the score, but a close VAR call disallowed his goal for offside.

Goalkeeper & Defence

Andriy Lunin (5/10):

Could do nothing about any of the goals, and made a few neat saves otherwise.

Lucas Vazquez (3/10):

Poor guy! Was absolutely bombarded with raking passes into space all evening.

Eder Militao (4/10):

Perhaps should have cleared Pulisic’s corner at the near post for the openrt, and was easily moved around when Milan attacked.

Antonio Rudiger (5/10):

Got dragged out of space for the Milan third. Slow moving the ball.

Ferland Mendy (6/10):

Not much of the Milan play came down his side of the pitch, but he could have offered a bit more in attack.

AFP

Midfield

Aurelien Tchouameni (5/10):

Endured a pretty woeful first half, giving the ball away in the run up to the Milan second, and struggled throughout. Deservedly hooked at half-time.

Federico Valverde (6/10):

Had several intriguing offensive moves and good ball movement, but Milan’s second goal took him off guard. unexpected sub during the intermission.

Luka Modric (6/10):

Appeared the most likely to make a move, played some deft passes, and danced around in the latter third. seemed slack after an hour, though, and was replaced.

Jude Bellingham (6/10):

made deft midfield moves on a regular basis, however his season was largely marred by his poor finishing performance.

Attack

Kylian Mbappe (5/10):

In the first half, a shot was cleverly blocked, but otherwise had little effect. Sometimes, this side seems a little misplaced.

Vinicius Jr (6/10):

Converted a penalty after winning it. subsequently carved out a few menacing moments, but was unable to generate the required magic.

Subs & Manager

Brahim Diaz (6/10):

Almost scored a late goal, but was wonderfully denied by Maignan.

Eduardo Camavinga (6/10):

Injected a bit of extra intensity into the game after coming on at half-time.

Dani Ceballos (5/10):

Went for the Hollywood pass too often, and really hould have kept the ball moving more.

Fran Garcia (6/10):

Offered a little more attacking thrust on the left wing.

Rodrygo (6/10):

Looked to make things happen, and was probably brought on too late.

Carlo Ancelotti (3/10):

In favor of a Vinicius-Mbappe split striking combo, Rodrygo was benched. His Madrid squad was constantly sliced open on the counter and had trouble getting going in the final third. Milan, Barcelona, Lille, and Atletico Madrid have now cost them points. A memorable evening.