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Chukwueze twice went close to winning Wednesday’s Champions League game at Borussia Dortmund, continuing a frustrating start to life with AC Milan.
The rueful look on Samuel Chukwueze’s face in the 85th minute of AC Milan’s Champions League match with Borussia Dortmund was unmistakable.
Samuel Chukwueze’s Milan frustration against Dortmund
The Nigeria international got 20 minutes off the Milan bench to turn another point into three, and he must have thought he had done just that with five minutes remaining.
A few inches inside and Chukwueze would have opened the scoring for Stefano Pioli’s side at Signal Iduna Park, taking them within minutes of their first Champions League victory of the campaign.
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22:23 - 04.10.2023
Dortmund vs AC Milan: Chukwueze struggles to impress as AC Milan settle for a draw in Germany
AC Milan and Dortmund played a goalless draw in their second group-stage fixture in the UEFA Champions League.
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09:40 - 04.10.2023
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The Nigerian had done well to create the scoring opportunity, carrying the ball infield after receiving Yacine Adli’s pass wide right to nearly open his account for his new club on a colossal European night.
He was still reflecting on that miss when the Rossoneri fashioned an even better chance a minute later, with Rafael Leao at the forefront and centre.
After swift interplay among Milan players on the left, the Portuguese star found an unmarked Chukwueze inside the penalty area, but the Super Eagles attacker shot with little conviction.
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The absence of decisive execution was underscored by the former Villarreal man falling over as he was about to shoot, further complicating an advantageous opportunity to claim maximum points with time running out.
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The follow-up effort from Tijjani Reijnders went off-target, and Milan had to settle for a point in North Rhine-Westphalia. They should have had all three.
Milan and Dortmund played out a stalemate
Pioli’s team had grown into the game after seemingly more intent on containing their hosts in the opening half, inviting pressure and capitalising on their attacking transitions.
Those situations were few and far between, and the Rossoneri’s best chance of the half came after BVB had half-cleared a Christian Pulisic corner. Davide Calabria’s header from the edge of the box found Olivier Giroud, but the Frenchman seemed more interested in scoring a perfect goal than applying a simple finish.
Dortmund could have gone 1-0 up in the opening half, but Donyell Malen’s shot missed the bottom right corner, and Niclas Fullkrug’s left-footed strike was denied by Mike Maignan. Chances also fell to Ramy Bensebaini and Julian Brandt in a first half that was edged by Edin Terzic’s men, who failed to punish Pioli’s troops.
Milan’s growth in Dortmund saw them fashion the game’s best chances but were hindered by their subpar execution.
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“It was a great second-half performance, and we certainly created the opportunities to get the victory,” Pioli told Sky Sport Italia.
“The fact we didn’t manage that is disappointing, but we have to look to the future with confidence. Inevitably, we lacked precision in front of goal and were not effective enough in the opposition's penalty area.
“It is also true that Dortmund created problems for us. It was a classic Champions League game against an energetic, tough and intense opponent, we fought it out with them on every ball.”
Milan’s unsatisfactory Champions League start
The upshot of not taking their goalscoring chances leaves Milan without a Champions League goal in their last four games in the competition, going back to last season’s semi-final defeat at the hands of Inter Milan.
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While their meek performances against Inter were disappointing because they could not create sufficient danger for the Nerazzurri, this season's group-stage games have shown the absence of a clinical edge.
That is doubly disappointing for a side whose eye-catching summer recruitment made them Serie A contenders and theoretically made them stronger to mount a better Champions League challenge.
However, firing blanks in both games leaves the Rossoneri on two points after two matchdays with a double-header to come against an anguished Paris Saint-Germain side in the next rounds of the group stage.
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Luis Enrique’s men were blown to smithereens at St James’ Park, losing 4-1 to the Champions League returnees on a night that PSG’s overly attacking approach was exposed and they struggled to match Newcastle’s intensity.
As for Chukwueze, the search for his first substantial Milan moment continues.
Chukwueze’s slow Milan start
It has not been the bright start Chukwueze probably hoped for after moving from Villarreal in the summer, with the attacker missing a chunk of preseason and having to play catch-up since.
Even more detrimental was the arrival of Pulisic and Pioli’s tactical alteration from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3, a formation switch that means one fewer attacking spot in the manager’s XI.
Milan’s summer spending focused on beefing up the midfield and securing match-winning talent to lessen the burden on Leao, and that has broadly been evident in the opening weeks of the 2023-24 campaign.
Pulisic has shown the quality to match the potential intermittently shown at Dortmund and Chelsea; the currently injured Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Reijnders have offered drive with their aggressive ball-carrying and random box-crashing, with the former Chelsea midfielder scoring a long-range cracker against Cagliari.
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16:46 - 27.07.2023
Samuel Chukwueze: Super Eagles winger could help AC Milan lose Leao dependency
For a long time, AC Milan have been limited by their seeming over-reliance on Rafael Leao. Samuel Chukwueze helps to shed that ‘one-man team’ tag.
Even Noah Okafor has been among the goals recently, scoring in back-to-back Serie A games in Sardinia and at home to Lazio last weekend.
However, Chukwueze has had little cheer.
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Wednesday’s Champions League draw witnessed several ball losses from the Nigerian, who lost all seven duels in 20 minutes, completed none of his three dribbles and failed to convert that chance in the game’s closing minutes.
Chukwueze’s Milan moment will come, but there may be more bumps in the road. Nevertheless, you sense the forward will not have to wait much longer.
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