Milan lose 0-2 to Ferencváros at San Siro: Joseph scores twice and Milan drop out of the top 24

Milan lost 0-2 to Ferencváros at San Siro on Thursday 5 November, in the fourth round of the Europa League’s league phase. Lenny Joseph scored both goals for the Hungarian side, in the 52nd and 66th minutes, and Ferencváros held on with ten men after a late red card. Milan, who beat Inter in the derby at the weekend, have three points from four European games and have dropped out of the 24 places that lead to the knockout rounds. Ferencváros have won all four of their games.

How it happened

Milan played without their captain and first-choice goalkeeper Mike Maignan, who was suspended after his red card in the 0-3 defeat at Bournemouth in the last round, and without his usual deputy Pietro Terracciano, who is injured, as ESPN’s report explains. Lorenzo Torriani played in goal instead. Christian Pulisic, who had scored in the win over Inter, started on the bench.

Torriani did well at first. ESPN’s report says he “showed good reactions to twice deny Joseph ahead of halftime”, and there were no goals before the break. Pulisic came on at half-time for Alphadjo Cissè.

The first goal, in the 52nd minute, came from a mistake. A backpass bounced towards Torriani inside the penalty area, his attempted clearance was charged down by Zachariassen, and Joseph swept the loose ball into an empty net, as ESPN describes it. The second, in the 66th minute, came from a break down the left: Zachariassen ran clear into the area and squared the ball to Joseph, who scored from 12 yards.

Ferencváros finished the game with ten men. Their substitute Bamidele Yusuf was shown a straight red card in the 77th minute, after a VAR review, for an elbow into the face of Milan’s Mario Gila, in the words of ESPN’s report. Milan did not score against ten men either. ESPN’s fixture list gives the attendance as 49,372.

What it changes

The league phase is one table of 36 clubs. Each club plays eight different opponents; the top eight go straight to the last 16, places nine to 24 go into a play-off round, and the bottom 12 are out of Europe. Milan have three points from four games, one win and three defeats, and sit 26th on ESPN’s table, two places below the line. Their one win was 4-0 at Salzburg; they have lost to Benfica, at Bournemouth and now at home to Ferencváros. Ferencváros are second with 12 points from four wins and a goal difference of plus eight.

Milan’s next European game is after the international break, in the fifth of the eight rounds on 26 November. Before that they are back in Serie A, where they are fifth with 21 points from ten games, seven behind the leaders Lazio. They go to Genoa on Sunday 8 November at 15:00 CET, according to the fixture feed used on this site.

What the market said

A betting price is a crowd’s opinion written as a number, and dividing 1 by the price gives a rough chance. The last price BettingBeast’s feed captured before kick-off, at 18:23 CET, made Milan the clear favourite at 1.44, about a 70% chance. The draw was 5.54, about 18%, and Ferencváros 7.64, about 13%. Ferencváros, the outsider by the price, won. The goals line was 2.5, with over 2.5 goals at 1.57 and under at 2.70, and the game had two goals.

19+ (18+ in Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba). Gambling involves risk and can be addictive. Please gamble responsibly. Prices quoted were correct at the time stated and move. This article is information and opinion, not advice; no outcome is certain. Odds links go to BettingBeast. Help: Responsible Gambling Council.