Getty Images

AC Milan’s 1-0 defeat in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League knockout stage playoffs against Feyenoord showed how the side coached by Sergio Conceicao still has to work to find their tactical balance when they want to play with all the attacking stars at the same time. The Rossoneri, for the first time, started with Rafael Leao and U.S. men’s national team star Christian Pulisic on the wings, with Portuguese talent Joao Felix and Mexican striker Santiago Gimenez all playing together. Despite the expectations, it didn’t work out as the team failed to score and rarely looked like a threat. 

The intensity of the first minutes by the home team pushed AC Milan back as Feyenoord managed to find an early goal with Brazilian striker Igor Paixao, the man of the match, who capitalized on the mistake of Rossoneri goalkeeper Mike Maignan who conceded the deciding goal of the first leg. AC Milan will host Feyenoord at San Siro on Tuesday when Conceicao’s men will have to recover from Wednesday night in Rotterdam. 

The first leg against Feyenoord showed AC Milan still need to improve in some key games, as they seemed under-motivated and without the intensity needed in such matches. At the same time, some of their biggest stars missed the chance to prove themselves against the Dutch side. Pulisic was one of the most disappointing players on the team and was even subbed off in the second half on the hour mark, something that happened rarely in the first part of his successful season at the club. 

The American international had only 36 passes in his opening 60 minutes (only Gimenez had fewer out of the starters) and zero shots overall, something that we have only seen three times this season in the Serie A games against AC Monza and Como and in the Champions League’s match against Girona. Pulisic is a vital player for the team, but the game against Feyenoord showed that the new tactical approach with the big four is not paying off so far. 

Leao and Felix had a disappointing match but at least tried something, and the most disappointing performance was the one of Gimenez, who only had eight passes completed in the 83 minutes he played on Wednesday against the team he joined from just last month. Conceicao will have to make a decision in the upcoming games against Hellas Verona and most importantly against the same Dutch team in less than a week. Will he insist on playing with the big four or will he exclude at least one of them in pursuit of UCL survival?