It was a bit of a smash and grab from AC Milan, but Fikayo Tomori believes it was all part of their Champions League masterplan against Newcastle United.
For almost an hour, everything was going Newcastle’s way. Joelinton had got the goal the Magpies needed, with a thunderous effort giving Eddie Howe’s side lift off in the first half.
Combine that with PSG falling behind against Borussia Dortmund and the Toon Army was in dreamland.
But the Ligue 1 champions quickly hit back to keep that game on a knife edge, while AC Milan got an equaliser of their own at St James’ Park.
From that moment, the game changed. It became a bit of a basketball match, with each side going in search of that elusive winner.
In the end, it was AC Milan who got it to dump Newcastle out of the Champions League. It was heartbreaking for the players and the fans, on what looked like was going to be a special night on Tyneside.
Newcastle United were dominant to begin with, as Milan barely laid a glove on Eddie Howe’s side in the first half. It was actually surprising how limp they were offensively.
But Fikayo Tomori has now spoke out about Milan’s game plan, and admitted that they knew Newcastle were going to come out all guns blazing. For them, it was just about defending well and staying in the game.
AC Milan knew Newcastle were going to be ‘aggressive’ in the first half
After beating Newcastle 2-1, Tomori spoke to beIN Sports. He shared how AC Milan dealt with Newcastle’s threat, having perfectly predicted how the Magpies would approach the game.
“It was a good game,” he said.
“We knew they were a strong team, especially at home with the crowd. We knew they were going to start fast, which they did, and it was just about staying calm and compact and sticking to the game plan, which we did, so I’m really happy.
“I think we expected in the first half they were going to be strong and aggressive in their pressing and creating overloads in the wide areas. We tried to combat that, even with that they had a lot of the ball, they had the goal and only one or two other chances in the first-half but I think overall we defended well.
“In the second half it was just about staying compact and stay in the game. We knew they were going to try and score another one and we just had to try and pick our moments to score, which we did.”
Milan deserve credit for their Champions League display away from home
It was agonizing to see us get knocked out of the Champions League, but you have to give AC Milan a lot of credit for what they did.
They defended brilliantly, with Tomori in particular producing a top level display. They made sure they stayed in the game, then picked off Newcastle on the counter when they got the opportunity.
As Milan expected, Newcastle started like a house on fire. We were aggressive and got in a lot of dangerous positions, but Milan were able to deal with the majority of what we threw at them.
It all became a bit desperate for Newcastle late in the day. Meanwhile, Milan were composed. Their game plan was excellent, and it led to them jumping above the Magpies and knocking them out of Europe.
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