Leao returns to action and scores, Fullkrug makes his Milan debut, Rossoneri come to the top of Serie A for now.
2025/2026 Serie A
0-1
Match Report
Rafael Leao marked his return from injury in style as he was the matchwinner for AC Milan in their 1-0 victory over Cagliari.
The Portuguese winger's strike in the 50th minute was enough to separate the two sides at Unipol Domus and send the Rossoneri top of Serie A, though Inter can reclaim that spot when they host Bologna on Sunday.
Cagliari started stronger out of the two sides as marauding wing-back Marco Palestra caused trouble for Milan down the right-hand side, most notably dragging an early effort wide of the target, while Michel Adopo sent a header straight at Mike Maignan.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek failed to hit the target with a good chance of his own in the first half, whereas Youssouf Fofana struggled to get a shot away in a crowded penalty area as Milan grew in confidence before the break.
And five minutes into the second period, Leao gave the visitors the lead. Fofana picked out Adrien Rabiot in the box, and the latter managed to square the ball to Leao, whose deflected strike flew into the roof of the net.
Although Milan slowly retreated towards their own box as they looked to see out their lead, Cagliari struggled to form any sort of threat after going behind as they registered just one shot in the second half.
Riding the first wave of the year pic.twitter.com/SPotcLD2g8
— AC Milan (@acmilan) January 2, 2026
Data Debrief: Allegri's road warriors
Despite a slow start away from home, Milan's quality eventually told. They produced 0.89 expected goals from 10 shots, compared to Cagliari's 0.38 from six attempts.
Loftus-Cheek played a key role in tilting the midfield battle in Milan's favour. The Englishman won seven of his 13 duels, including both of his aerial challenges, while also regaining possession four times and completing 15 of his 18 passes.
Milan are one of only three sides in Europe's top five leagues in 2025-26, along with Real Betis and Bayern Munich, yet to lose an away match this season (W5 D3).
The Rossoneri are unbeaten in each of their first eight away Serie A games in a single campaign for only the second time in the last 20 seasons (since 2006-07) – the previous instance was in 2020/21, under Stefano Pioli, when they extended the run to 10 matches.
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
2' Match Event for Cagliari vs Milan
3' Highlight from Cagliari vs Milan
28' Match Event for Cagliari vs Milan
33' Highlight from Cagliari vs Milan
41' Match Event for Cagliari vs Milan
46' Match Event for Cagliari vs Milan
47' Match Event for Cagliari vs Milan
49' GOAL! Cagliari 0-1 Milan
64' Match Event for Cagliari vs Milan
69' Match Event for Cagliari vs Milan
87' Highlight from Cagliari vs Milan
90' Match Event for Cagliari vs Milan
Line-ups
Cagliari XI: Luperto, Mazzitelli, Michel Adopo, Gabriele Zappa, Elia Caprile, Esposito, Adam Obert, Semih Kılıçsoy, Matteo Prati, Marco Palestra, Juan Rodríguez
Subs: Pavoletti, Mina, Deiola, Radunovic, Rog, Gaetano, Alessandro Di Pardo, Gennaro Borrelli, Giuseppe Ciocci, Zito Luvumbo, Nicolò Cavuoti, Nicola Pintus, Riyad Idrissi, Joseph Liteta, Yael Trepy
Milan XI: Modric, Maignan, Rabiot, Loftus-Cheek, Tomori, Pervis Estupiñán, Leao, Alexis Saelemaekers, Youssouf Fofana, Koni De Winter, Davide Bartesaghi
Subs: Pietro Terracciano, Füllkrug, Pulisic, Gabbia, Samuele Ricci, Ardon Jashari, S. Pavlovic, D. Odogu, Torriani, Zachary Athekame, Alex Castiello