All eyes were on Krzysztof Piatek and he didn’t disappoint, bagging both goals in AC Milan’s 2-0 win over Napoli to send the Rossoneri into the Coppa Italia semi-finals.
Making his full Milan debut in front of just 22,000 people at the Stadio San Siro, the €35 million signing continued where he left of at Genoa with two brilliant first half strikes.
The first came just 10 minutes in when Diego Laxalt played a superb long ball over the Napoli defence,which found Nikola Maksimovic sleeping, only for Piatek to stride in on goal and place the ball into the right-hand corner.
Things could have been different as Lorenzo Insigne was twice denied by Gianluigi Donnarumma, before the Pole bagged his second of the game.
Gathering a loose ball on the left side of Napoli’s penalty area, and with seemingly nowhere to go Piatek created a yard for himself and stuffed the ball into the top corner, leaving Meret with no chance.
Napoli tried to get back into the game in the second 45 minutes, and dominated their opponents, but the closest they came to scoring was an Arkadiusz Milik strike which Alessio Romagnoli cleared off the line, then Donnarumma palmed away a dangerous Adam Ounas effort.
Pistolero Piatek
Four goals on his Coppa Italia debut with Genoa, and another two on his full AC Milan debut in the same competition. Many had branded the signing of Piatek a risk, given he had only been in Italian football for six months, but 27 minutes into his first start all those doubters were suitably left eating their words. Showing great strength throughout, enough pace to get past the Napoli defence and an eye for goal the Rossoneri haven’t seen for quite some time, murmurs of ‘the new Andrei Shevchencko’ trickled round the San Siro. It may be too early to judge, but Piatek has started in the right way.
Brilliant Bakayoko
While all the headlines will be stolen by his teammate up front, the performance of Tiemoue Bakayoko should be regarded as just as important. An absolute rock in midfield, dominating his Napoli counterparts, while also showing the composure on the ball which persuaded Chelsea to give Monaco €45 million for his services, and if he continues like this, Milan should give the Blues the same.
