Milan beat Inter on Saturday, and Lenny Joseph’s two goals have left them 28th in the Europa League

Five days after beating Inter in the derby, AC Milan lost 2-0 at home to Ferencváros in the Europa League on Thursday. Lenny Joseph scored both goals at San Siro. Milan had most of the ball, played the last quarter of an hour against ten men, and still did not score.

Zachariassen made both goals

Lorenzo Torriani was in goal because Mike Maignan was suspended after his red card at Bournemouth. He had kept out three efforts from Joseph before half-time. Seven minutes after the break, he was caught on the ball. Kristoffer Zachariassen closed him down, the ball ran loose, and Joseph put it into an empty net.

The second came in the 66th minute. Zachariassen ran from his own half, drew Torriani out and squared it, and Joseph had a simple finish.

Ten men, and still nothing

Bamidele Yusuf had come off the bench, and in the 77th minute a VAR review caught him elbowing Mario Gila in the face. Straight red. Milan pushed, but the best they managed was an angled shot from Omari Hutchinson that Dénes Dibusz kept out.

Ruben Amorim had made six changes from the derby side, and Christian Pulisic only came on at half-time. He did not use that as cover afterwards. “Tonight we have no excuses,” he told reporters. Ferencváros “were better technically, tactically, and especially mentally”, he said, and he wondered if he had done something wrong in the days before the game.

Four games left to reach the top 24

This was Milan’s third defeat in four league-phase games. They opened with a 2-0 home defeat to Benfica, won 4-0 in Salzburg on 15 October and lost 3-0 at Bournemouth a week later. In Serie A they have lost once in ten.

Milan are 28th of 36 on three points. The top 24 reach the knockout phase, so they are four places short with four games to play. Ferencváros have won all four and sit third on 12 points. Milan’s next European game is away to Olympiacos on 26 November.

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