Comfortable night for AC Milan in Tallaght as Shamrock Rovers go out of Europe
Rovers’ Aaron Greene with AC Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic after the game. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Forget the talk of faded grandeur. Never mind that their star power is provided by a 38-year old Zlatan. And don't even start with the fact that they traded their famous red and black shirts for a gaudy type of teal here. This was still AC Milan and they were still too good.
Goals from that man Ibrahimovic and Hakan Çalhanoğlu, one coming in each half, put paid to a home side that had chances of their own but Rovers now take their leave of the Europa League after this one-legged second qualifying round tie behind closed doors.
“It was always going to be an uphill battle,” said midfielder Gary O'Neill after a game in which the hosts played some good football but never really looked like threatening the sort of result that would make headlines all over the continent.
“They’re a top side. We were just saying in the dressing room there that you can really see the levels of football. They are elite athletes. The main thing was - we were hoping to cause an upset as well - to give a good account of ourselves and I think we did that.”
Rovers, with very few injury issues to concern them, went with a familiar lineup that has become accustomed to dominating possession and territory in domestic games but everyone knew there was a very different job to do here.
Milan followed pre-game expectations with the great Zlatan named at the apex of a front three and in a side without a quintet of players through suspension and injury. Most notable of those was last season's top scorer Ante Rebic.
Not seeing Rebic was a blow that the locals could have lived with but there was something wistful about the sight of a handful of supporters in Rovers jerseys hanging about the stadium two hours before kick-off and angling for a sight of Ibrahimovic & Co.
The absence of that 12th man for a game played in front of some media, club officials and stewards was a shame, not least given the memories from ten years earlier when Juventus had played the Hoops on this same patch of turf.
Such is life and sport these days.
Milan will have hardly complained. Club legend Filippo Galli had spoken with confidence about the club's plans to claim a top four finish in Serie A this coming season and return to their rightful European stomping ground that is the Champions League.
“It would be great to win the Uefa Europa League,” he explained in the match programme, “and therefore defeat to Shamrock Rovers is unthinkable for Milan. The important thing is not to underestimate them. Milan must play to their full potential and then they will win this tie.”
Whatever about Milan, Rovers didn't really do themselves justice in an opening ten-minute period where they failed to get their foot on the ball and find some calm. Then again, the opportunities to do that were few and far between.
That Milan led the dance was all too predictable but the horrible reality of games against teams of this quality is that, for all the defending the underdog has to do, it is those times when they have the ball themselves that tend to pose more danger.
Rovers found that out to their cost 23 minutes in when Roberto Lopes vacated his place beside Ibrahimovic as the home team sought an exit up the pitch. The defender gave the ball away and then found the Swede slipping in behind him and firing home from a lovely Çalhanoğlu pass.
As quick as it was painful.
It almost happened again just minutes later, Ibrahimovic haring down the left on the counter and playing a deep, low ball across the Rovers goal for Samuel Castillejo whose effort was blocked. It was scintillating stuff at times.
Milan got better, if anything, as the game wore on and there were times when it was all Rovers could do but to throw their bodies at shots as they rained in on the back of one-touch moves.
“There was a bit of champagne football towards the end,” O'Neill admitted.
Rovers weren't without their say and it was usually Jack Byrne leading their chorus.
It was a burst from the midfielder nine minutes in that set up Aaron Greene for the game's first chance but Gianluigi Donnarumma intervened and the Italian keeper did so again later in the half to deny the Rovers centre-forward and then Ronan Finn.
That last chance came on the back of a superb passing move from the Airtricity League leaders and one that boded well for a second-half against a team that had only a handful of pre-season friendlies under their belts.
What followed, then, was disappointing. Milan turned the screw in the third quarter, laying siege to the Rovers goal at times and finally making it 2-0 courtesy of a superb Çalhanoğlu finish after a painfully intricate move in the 67th minute.
Rovers' only real opportunity of the half came soon after. Yet again Greene had a stab at a finish, yet again he was beaten back by Donnarumma. There would be no storming finish, no last-gasp heroics but manager Stephen Bradley had no complaints.
“I thought they were fantastic,” he said of his side. “I thought we were brave. We played our way and we got three really good chances off the back of that. On another night Aaron scores that first one and you never know what might happen.
“I'm really proud of the group and proud of how they attacked the game. We know we were against it in terms of quality but we didn't take a step back. We played our way and that was the most pleasing thing.”
A Mannus, J O'Brien, R Lopes, L Grace, R Finn, A McEneff, G O'Neill, N Farrugia, J Byrne, A Green, J Burke.
D Watts for O'Neill (70); S Kavanagh for Farrugia (83); D Williams for Greene (87).
G Donnarumma, D Calabria, S Kjaer, M Gabbia, Theo Hernández, F Kessié, B Ismael, Hakan Çalhanoğlu, S Castillejo, Z Ibrahimovic, A Saelemaekers.
R Krunic for Saelemaekers (74); B Diaz for Çalhanoğlu (83); S Tonali for Ismael (84);
A Farkas (Hungary).
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