From Struggles to Dominance: How Milan Shocked Lecce with a New System

AC Milan secured a 3–0 home victory over Lecce at San Siro, preserving their undefeated record in Serie A ahead of the international break. The result lifted the Rossoneri to fifth place in the league table.

Christian Pulisic opened the scoring in the 14th minute — Milan’s first first-half goal of the campaign. Adrien Rabiot doubled the advantage after halftime, finishing a coordinated team move assisted by Goncalo Ramos. Substitute Diego Moreira, a former Portugal youth international, added the third.

The win followed consecutive draws away to Juventus and Lazio, and a Europa League loss to Benfica. Milan registered 69% possession and dominated throughout the match.

“I think we improved a lot,” Amorim said post-match. “The freedom in the players, the movement, especially the runs behind, so we are not just a team that has the ball, we are a team that is dangerous. We have space to run into and that is a good thing, we controlled the game, we understood the opposition were waiting for our mistake, but we defended quite well and deserved the win.”

He added: “We have a lot to do, but we are improving and we are learning. We had difficulties in the last games, because the structure was really blocked in the positions, but the players had a little more freedom, and they played better with a little more freedom.”

Tactical Build-Up Shift

Amorim adjusted Milan’s defensive-phase build-up structure, deploying a four-man shape in possession. Centre-back Mario Gila shifted to right-back during build-up, while wing-back Pervis Estupiñán dropped into left-back. The change drew praise from Italian media.

When asked about the adjustment, Amorim said: “It’s an observation of the games and the characteristics. Of course I listen to the players, but a manager especially in a big team is always listening to the players, seeing and understanding them, but every player wants to push the game towards their characteristics, and if you want to have an identity, that is hard.”

“It’s always my decision. What I felt in the last games is the same that I felt at Manchester United, and I cannot make the same mistake. Sometimes we don’t have the perfect characteristics to play in that way, and if we don’t have it, we have to adapt.”

He continued: “I think today worked, in another game we can return to the build-up with three, the important thing is to have different ways of playing. That’s especially important in Italy, because the managers are really smart, they mark really well one against one, and when they lost the reference of what we want to do, it’s harder for them to understand the mobility, just as they make it harder for me to understand their teams.”

“If you look at the way we play, Roma and Inter had more time as a team, you can see the patterns are there. We didn’t lose so many points, we dropped two to Lazio and Juventus away, so not everything is bad.”

Milan are one of four teams yet to suffer a defeat in Serie A this season. Their only dropped points came on away trips to Juventus and Lazio.