AC Milan saw off 10-man Slavia Prague 4-2 at San Siro in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie.
2023/2024 UEFA Europa League
4-2
After Slavia defender El Hadji Malick Diouf was shown a straight red card in the 26th minute, the Rossoneri made the most of their advantage with first-half goals from Olivier Giroud, Tijjani Reijnders and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
David Doudera had earlier given the Czech side hope with an fine strike to make it 1-1 and Ivan Schranz reduced the deficit midway through the second half before Christian Pulisic’s close-range effort late on gave Milan breathing space heading into the return leg.
Line-ups
Milan XI: Kjaer, Giroud, Florenzi, Maignan, Loftus-Cheek, Theo, Pulisic, Gabbia, Yacine Adli, Tijjani Reijnders, Leao
Subs: Mirante, Sportiello, Calabria, Jovic, Tomori, Bennacer, Samuel Chukwueze, Noah Okafor, Yunus Musah, Malick Thiaw, Kalulu, Filippo Terracciano
Slavia Praha XI: Tomas Holes, Lukas Masopust, Jindrich Stanek, Lukas Provod, Oscar, David Doudera, Ondrej Zmrzly, Tomas Vlcek, David Zima, Mojmir Chytil, El Hadji Malick Diouf
Subs: Jan Boril, Ivan Schranz, Mick van Buren, Ales Mandous, Vaclav Jurecka, Michal Tomic, Igoh Ogbu, Conrad Wallem, Muhamed Tijani, Jan Sirotnik, Matej Jurasek, Mikulas Konecny