Milan lost 3-0 to Chelsea in their penultimate friendly, extending a preseason without a win before the Serie A campaign gets under way at Torino.
The tour that started in Glasgow against Celtic and ran through Australia and Indonesia has yet to produce a victory, and this was the heaviest defeat of the lot. La Gazzetta dello Sport described Milan as overwhelmed in a match built around experiments, which makes the scoreline harder to read than it looks on paper.
Ruben Amorim deliberately split his squad into two roughly equal lineups, spreading his first-choice players across the group. That choice is the main caveat on the 3-0, though Gazzetta suggest that even if the Rossoneri are heading in the right direction, they remain some way behind.
Amorim used the game to look at the players fighting for a starting role, among them Pervis Estupiñán, Samuel Chukwueze, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Rafael Leão and Filippo Terracciano. The high press was there to see, and for half an hour Milan held their own, with Torriani denying João Pedro and Chelsea unable to force a breakthrough despite dominating the ball.
There was tactical detail worth noting in how Milan set up. Estupiñán dropped deep and the defence at times became a back five, with Chelsea keeping Pedro Neto and Palestra high on either flank. In possession, Milan built with three at the back, Luka Modrić dropping in and Comotto pushing forward to shape an unusual 3-1-4-2. The structure held until injury time, when it unravelled and Chelsea ran away with the result.
Saturday against Manchester United is the dress rehearsal for the opener at Torino, and Amorim has said the experiments stop there. After that match, the starting group is settled, and those left outside it could be informed in the days that follow.
With one friendly left, the decisions on who plays at Torino now sit with Amorim.