AC Milan continued in their winning ways in the Champions League with a much-needed 3-2 win against Slovan Bratislava on Tuesday night.
Match Report
Paulo Fonseca looked to shake up the squad, making six changes to his starting eleven from the weekend, most notably dropping Rafael Leao for Noah Okafor, even if he did not give a reason to drop the Portuguese international during his press conference.
The game started as Fonseca probably would have asked for, with the Rossoneri largely dominant, and after 20 minutes, the visitors took the lead through Christian Pulisic after some nice work from Tammy Abraham.
Frustratingly, though, the Rossoneri did not learn from an earlier mistake which allowed Slovan through, and once again they found themselves victims to a counter-attack. This time though, they were not saved, Tigran Barseghyan did not make a mistake, lofting the ball over Mike Maignan and levelling the game.
The second half was quite lacklustre for the most part, with the Diavolo failing to really create much danger for the hosts, but the game quickly flipped on its head, as Rafael Leao set things in motion after coming onto the pitch at the start of the half, scoring to make it 2-1.
Then, just minutes later, Abraham got his goal for the evening, pouncing on a mistake from the defence and slotting home with ease, surely putting the game to bed.
However, things are never simple with Milan, and Slovan got themselves a goal back a minute away from the end of normal time, adding a bit of nerve to the game, but a late red card quickly eased worries.
As the Rossoneri did against Juventus, they started the game with intensity, in their press and in their attacks, and this showed with a Samuel Chuwkueze shot within the opening two minutes. Some nice Noah Okafor work into the box resulted in the ball finding Reijnders, who set Chukwueze into motion, but the Nigerian could only fire his shot wide.
The Diavolo felt they should have a penalty just two minutes later as Chukwueze went down in the box, but the winger probably went down slightly too easily for the referee’s liking and he shook away the claims for a spot kick, bright signs nevertheless from Paulo Fonseca’s men.
Despite a set-piece chance from Theo Hernandez which was fired wide, and some hopeful attempts from outside the box, the game settled slightly in the following minutes with Milan looking to dominate possession and frustrate the hosts.
The attempts to dominate the ball nearly needn’t have mattered though as Slovan quickly caught the Rossoneri on the counter, and Strelec was slipped through the middle. Despite rounding Maignan, the striker couldn’t find the back of the net due to a fantastic block from Strahinja Pavlovic, a lucky escape definitely.
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
3' Highlight from SK Slovan Bratislava vs Milan
5' Highlight from SK Slovan Bratislava vs Milan
8' Highlight from SK Slovan Bratislava vs Milan
16' Match Event for SK Slovan Bratislava vs Milan
21' GOAL! SK Slovan Bratislava 0-1 Milan (Christian Pulisic)
24' GOAL! SK Slovan Bratislava 1-1 Milan (Tigran Barseghyan)
38' Highlight from SK Slovan Bratislava vs Milan
44' Highlight from SK Slovan Bratislava vs Milan
50' Highlight from SK Slovan Bratislava vs Milan
56' Highlight from SK Slovan Bratislava vs Milan
65' Highlight from SK Slovan Bratislava vs Milan
68' GOAL! SK Slovan Bratislava 1-2 Milan (Rafael Leão)
71' GOAL! SK Slovan Bratislava 1-3 Milan (Tammy Abraham)
76' Match Event for SK Slovan Bratislava vs Milan
84' Highlight from SK Slovan Bratislava vs Milan
89' GOAL! SK Slovan Bratislava 2-3 Milan (Nino Marcelli)
92' Red Card! Marko Tolic sent off
Line-ups
SK Slovan Bratislava XI: Juraj Kucka, Guram Kashia, Tigran Barseghyan, Kenan Bajric, Kyriakos Savvidis, Jurij Medvedev, Cesar Blackman, Dominik Takac, David Strelec, Siemen Voet, Idjessi Metsoko
Subs: Robert Mak, Lukas Pauschek, Julius Szoke, Danylo Ignatenko, Marko Tolic, Martin Trnovsky, Matus Vojtko, Alen Mustafic, Sharani Zuberu, Artur Gajdos, Adam Hrdina, Nino Marcelli
Milan XI: Maignan, Calabria, Tomori, Theo, Abraham, Pulisic, Samuel Chukwueze, Noah Okafor, Tijjani Reijnders, Youssouf Fofana, S. Pavlovic
Subs: Sportiello, Loftus-Cheek, Gabbia, Aparecido, Leao, Yunus Musah, Malick Thiaw, Filippo Terracciano, Lorenzo Torriani, Francesco Camarda