There is an old theatrical tradition that a bad dress rehearsal is followed by a successful first night of a show.
Napoli will have to hope that is true.
Sunday’s Serie A game against AC Milan was the first of three meetings between the sides in 17 days. The other two are in a Champions League quarter-final, with the first leg at San Siro next Wednesday and the return in Naples the following Tuesday.
Napoli had an immense home league record going into last night’s match, winning 11 of 13 on their own patch this season and outscoring their opponents 33-9 in those games, but they conceded twice in the opening 25 minutes of a game for the first time since Luciano Spalletti was named coach almost two years ago and ended up losing 4-0.
It was Milan’s biggest league win of the season and the first time in over seven years that anyone has scored four away at Serie A’s top side (Inter Milan 1 Fiorentina 4, September 2015).
The absence of Victor Osimhen with a groin injury is too simplistic to explain away Napoli’s defeat — they had won all seven games played this season without their main striker before last night.
Milan coach Stefano Pioli’s tactical switch was back to, on paper, the 4-2-3-1 system that had won just one of six games at the start of 2023, with his team conceding 17 times in those fixtures.
Pioli said in late January that he would have been “foolish” to continue with that approach, and switched to 3-4-2-1 (where Milan defended as a 5-4-1); this brought five clean sheets in six games, including in both Champions League round-of-16 legs against Tottenham Hotspur.
“We’ve tried both formations (back three and back four), we’ll choose the best one,” Pioli said before the Napoli game. In the end, they used both.
Milan defended in a 4-2-3-1, man-marking Napoli’s central midfielders (highlighted with the yellow dots in this first screengrab).
With possession, Milan formed a back three, dropping central midfielder Rade Krunic between or alongside the centre-backs to overload Napoli’s front two. Spalletti had pushed Piotr Zielinski forward from midfield to make a 4-4-2 alongside Giovanni Simeone.
“We often left a space between the lines, where they are good; they have all these players who are half-playing midfielders… quality midfielders… they found the man in the middle, we went to playing man against man, we did not get along well with the positions,” said Spalletti.
Milan maintained their midfield balance with Brahim Diaz, who lined up as the right-winger but played like the No 10 the back of his shirt would suggest. Here he is on the left side of the pitch, receiving from goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Rafael Leao, albeit a right-footer playing off the left, is a truer ‘winger’ than Diaz. Milan’s left-back Theo Hernandez consistently made inverted runs to open passing lanes from the back three to Leao.
Compare the positioning of Milan’s ‘wingers’ (highlighted with the yellow dots) and their full-backs (the black dots) against Napoli’s mid-block.
The build-up to Milan’s second goal — which was scored by Diaz — epitomises this.
Hernandez’s run inside opens the passing angle out to Leao, which bypasses the Napoli midfield.
The Portugal winger dribbles infield and combines with No 9 Olivier Giroud.
Napoli’s back four are compact so Milan have to go wide, with Leao finding central midfielder Ismael Bennacer on their left.
Bennacer’s cross — one of only six from Milan all game (Napoli attempted 27) — targets Giroud, but glances off Napoli’s Kim Min-jae and the ball lands at Diaz’s feet.
Diaz, who is unmarked because left-back Mario Rui has tried to affect Giroud’s jump…
… stays composed, cuts inside — leaving Mario Rui on the floor — and doubles the lead.
Nine of Milan’s starting XI last night had also begun the 2-1 defeat at San Siro in September’s reverse fixture — Leao was suspended, Diaz came on as a second-half substitute. Pioli adding their individual brilliance to an adapted system worked wonders.
Milan’s back-three approach continued in the second half.
Building short, Krunic, from the right-back area, breaks the Napoli press with a diagonal pass to left-back Hernandez in the centre circle.
This exposes Napoli’s back four, again, with Milan five-v-four, and they go box-to-box in 14 seconds.
Hernandez works it to Alexis Saelemaekers, on for Diaz as a substitute. His low cross finds Giroud, who shoots straight at Alex Meret but was offside anyway.
Milan showed variety in their build-up play — often they would shape up to play short and then go long, either towards Giroud or Hernandez.
This led to Milan’s first chance of the night. Hernandez won the flick-on from Maignan’s goal kick, then ran in behind to collect Leao’s backheel pass…
… and pulled back a low cross for Diaz, who forced Meret into a save — less than 12 seconds from box to box.
Going two behind early forced Napoli to be expansive. They were completely rattled, sprinting up to take a corner in first-half stoppage time.
Spalletti’s side did not manage a shot on target before Milan scored their second, and when they did have one, it was by defensive midfielder Stanislav Lobotka (two goals in 102 appearances since signing in January 2020) from almost 30 yards.
Milan used mid and low blocks to minimise space for Napoli’s wingers and creative midfielders. The champions-elect were forced to cross and play big switches to wide areas — a less dangerous ploy for Milan in Osimhen’s absence.
Here’s Giroud gamely tracking back at age 36, making a ‘striker’s tackle’ well into his own defensive third.
Midway through the second half, after conceding a corner, Fikayo Tomori gestured to a team-mate that they needed to sit rather than keep running side-to-side.
Milan, who have the highest number of ‘direct attacks’ open-play (sequences starting just inside a team’s own half, with at least 50 per cent forward movement, ending in a shot or a touch in the opposition box) in Europe’s top five leagues this season with 68, could now attack in transition; this suited Leao, as he could drive at a disorganised defence.
Here, Maignan distributes quickly to Leao after claiming a cross, with Hernandez immediately making a central forward run…
…and he carries play into the Napoli half, then switches to Diaz over on the right…
…who dribbles into the box before shooting over.
Milan defended deep but had almost as many tackles (23) in the game as clearances (24), picking their moments well to make midfield regains.
In January, pundit Paolo Di Canio — who played for both these clubs, among many others — described Milan central midfielders Bennacer and Sandro Tonali as “a perfect tandem”. “They aren’t very tall but have quick steps. Tonali often runs with the ball and restarts the action,” Di Canio explained.
Tonali made a team-high five tackles, including one that started the sequence leading to Milan’s third goal, and Leao’s second. Their opener on 17 minutes ended a run of 11 club games without scoring for Leao and this was his first brace since the 3-2 derby win over Inter in September.
Milan’s 34 per cent second-half possession was 10 per cent less than in the first half, but they had more shots (eight vs six) and ‘big chances’ (three vs two). All five of their counter-attacks, four of them ending in shots, came in the second half.
Napoli were self-destructive. Saelemaekers’ goal, Milan’s fourth and last on 67 minutes, summed up the game as he weaved through the back four and nutmegged Meret.
Napoli might have the title in the bag with a 16-point lead and 10 games to go but Milan last night showed the ruthless and adaptable side of their game that won them the scudetto last season.
Roll on act two of this trilogy in the Champions League at San Siro next week.
