AC Milan vs. Crotone: Winners and Losers from Coppa Italia

AC Milan progressed to the Coppa Italia’s round of 16 with a surprisingly difficult 3-1 extra-time victory over Crotone on Tuesday night.

Milan were made to work hard for their win by the visitors, who lie second in Serie B as it stands and, entering the game, had only lost one of their previous 14 matches in all competitions.

After going 1-0 up through Luiz Adriano at the start of the second half, Milan were pegged back by Ante Budimir, who struck Crotone’s equaliser with a quarter of an hour to go in normal time.

The underdogs fashioned some good chances and even had a penalty shout turned down, but Sinisa Mihajlovic’s much-changed team held on for extra time.

It was in this period that Milan began to assert themselves upon the away side, bringing on established starters such as Riccardo Montolivo, Giacomo Bonaventura and M’Baye Niang to try to settle the contest.

Both Bonaventura and Niang played an important part in ensuring Milan’s victory, with the former curling in a delicious free-kick before Niang tapped in to seal the result.

It was far from vintage stuff, but Milan eventually achieved what was expected of them after a strong effort from a Crotone side that—on this evidence—looks more than good enough to compete in Italian football’s top tier.

Here are our winners and losers from an engrossing cup clash.

Winner: Ivan Juric

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Crotone head coach Ivan Juric did himself plenty of favours by organising an effective game plan for his side as they faced their greatest test of the season.

Prior to the match the Croat was all business. He told reporters in his pre-match press conference (h/t Football Italia), “We’re going to San Siro to do well, without closing up in defence.”

Juric's team are one point off the top of Serie B and they didn’t look out of place against an under-strength Milan, creating multiple clear goalscoring chances before succumbing in extra time.

Italian football writer Richard Hall spoke highly of the display, saying, “Milan's fitness will no doubt show through in extra time but Crotone have been equal to them through much of this game”.

While ultimately Crotone did falter in the later stages of a long game, they acquitted themselves well and will take great confidence from the fact that, on another day, they may well have come away from San Siro with a positive result.

Loser: Sinisa Mihajlovic

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Sinisa Mihajlovic nearly came away from what was supposed to be a fairly routine cup game with egg on his face.

After watching his team put in a sublime weekend performance to dismantle Sampdoria, he sent out a severely weakened team against Crotone and resultantly almost jeopardised the Rossoneri’s one real chance of silverware this season.

Not only did Mihajlovic dispense with the 4-4-2 system that had worked so well against Sampdoria; he also completely altered the lineup. Subsequently, his side looked rusty and vulnerable.

While the result is the bottom line for Mihajlovic, if he is to take anything away from the performance it is that he should show more respect to solid Serie B opposition in future.

Winner: Ante Budimir

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Ante Budimir didn’t start but came on for Raffaele Palladino midway through the first half and proceeded to torture Milan’s defence.

He was indefatigable up front and got his rewards after slipping the ball past Cristian Zapata to fire beyond Christian Abbiati to draw Crotone level.

He also had a strong shout for a penalty after once more beating the Colombian, as Richard Hall stated, “I have seen everything now in this game! How Zapata got away with that, it is a penalty whichever way you look at it. Huge let off”.

Budimir has been in good form for Crotone this season and, even if his side don’t achieve promotion, it’s not so far-fetched that with more performances like these he could be a Serie A player in the near future.

Loser: Cristian Zapata

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After falling toward the bottom of Milan’s central defensive pecking order in recent times, this match represented a rare opportunity in the starting lineup for Cristian Zapata. Unfortunately, it was one he didn’t take.

He was consistently beaten for both pace and strength by his counterpart Budimir, putting in a weak challenge to present the Croat with the chance for his equalising goal before almost hauling him down for a penalty.

With Alessio Romagnoli, Alex and Philippe Mexes already ahead of him in the fight for Milan’s two centre-back spots, Zapata’s latest underwhelming display could have pushed him ever closer towards the exit door.

Winner: Milan's Established Stars

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In a match where many of their second-string players failed to truly stamp their mark, Milan were saved by their more established stars.

Both Bonaventura and Niang came off the bench to play a crucial part in helping their side through to the next round of the Coppa Italia.

The former scored a wonderful free-kick to put Milan back in front in extra time before the latter sealed the win on 114 minutes with a tap-in following good work by another sub, Montolivo.

This match highlighed the alarming lack of quality depth in Milan’s squad as they had to rely upon their best first-teamers to overcome relatively modest opposition.