Pierre Kalulu was judged to be one of the worst on the pitch in Milan’s 2-2 draw with Lecce, with the Italian press widely panning his performance.
The 22-year-old French defender is a key part of Stefano Pioli’s squad in Lombardy and has appeared in all of their games this season, usually being a reliable and solid centre back. Unfortunately for Kalulu and Milan, things went wrong against Lecce and they found themselves 2-0 down heading into the half time break, setting up a tense second half that saw them salvage a point.
La Gazzetta dello Sport did not mince their words when discussing the work of Kalulu, saying: “He immediately lost contact with reality, the wrong pass for Lecce’s 1-0 threw him into the tunnel of insecurity. He is also at fault on the second goal. He recovered in the second half, but the original sins of the bad day are his.”
Corriere della Sera echoed these sentiments, highlighting his faults on both of Lecce’s goals, noting: “Horror show: first the pass that gets bogged down, then the empty jump on the encore.”
Corriere dello Sport were hardly more positive, drawing attention to a number of his mistakes in the clash, commenting: “Lecce’s 1-0 was the result of a macroscopic error on his part (a ball given away to Di Francesco on the way out), the 2-0 came from a cross that went past him. Then, various other uncertainties.”
Tuttosport could offer nothing different and agreed with their counterparts, discussing Kalulu’s poor first half and the position he left his team in, saying: “A nightmarish start; he starts with the mistake that triggers the action of the Lecce goal, then he doesn’t counter Baschirotto on the second. Often inaccurate afterwards too.”
Kalulu’s ratings in the Italian newspapers:
La Gazzetta dello Sport: 4
Corriere dello Sport: 4.5
Corriere della Sera: 4
Tuttosport: 4.5
He’s been bad all season unfortunately. He is still young and will put it behind him but Gabbia should get some starts. He won’t though because he’s italian and Milan hates italians these days.