For his performance in the first leg of AC Milan's Champions League semifinal matchup against rival Inter Milan, Rio Ferdinand has criticized Fikayo Tomori.
Inter stormed out of the gate at the San Siro against a shell-shocked Milan club, winning 2-0 in what was technically their away match.
Simone Inzaghi's team appeared capable of scoring every time they advanced, and Milan were fortunate to trail by only 2-0 after a more than poor first half.
Despite missing key players Rafael Leao and then Ismael Bennacer due to injury, Milan received criticism from BT Sport analysts the entire evening.
When questioned by Steven Gerrard about Tomori's performance, who had previously garnered glowing accolades for his performances in Italy but struggled that evening, Ferdinand in particular didn't hold back.
I mentioned before the game that you had to perform in the significant showcase games if you wanted to be catapulted into being a top player, and regrettably, today it wasn't one of those for him.
"I think one thing I would say is I don't think he won enough individual duels, I don't think he really impacted the center forwards with any aggression or challenges to really put a marker down at any point," I would say. They prevailed.
Ferdinand continued by mentioning Inter's persistent desire to move the ball forward and the frequent openings their opponents provided for them throughout the game.
Inter took advantage of the hosts' ongoing defensive issues to take a 2-0 lead into the second leg the following week.
One thing they did have, according to Ferdinand, "was really good balls into them." They were given the freedom to move with the ball freely and pass quality passes to the forwards from either defensive or midfield positions.
Players of Martinez and Dzeko's caliber are going to make it difficult for any defender to get close them, and they do that now, if you're putting nice passes into the right side of the forwards to assist them.
It had some of it, but these games also need you to be assertive. You have to set your marker down early in these games, Steven, and at no point did he actually do that, as you are aware.
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