Rafael Leao and a late Tammy Abraham tap-in gave Milan their fourth consecutive Champions League victory, however it was surprisingly powerful in opposition to Crvena Zvezda with extra harm worries.
The Rossoneri had pushed previous a tough begin to win three European ties on the bounce, together with the victory away to Actual Madrid, however in Serie A have been coming off an ill-tempered loss to Atalanta. Christian Pulisic, Noah Okafor, Alessandro Florenzi, Ismael Bennacer and Luka Jovic , so Ruben Loftus-Cheek stepped into the trequartista function. Crvena Zvezda misplaced 4-0 right here to Inter earlier within the marketing campaign, however since then had additionally overwhelmed VfB Stuttgart 5-1. Omri Glazer and Peter Olayinka didn’t make the journey, although ex-Milan midfielder Rade Krunic and former Torino winger Nemanja Radonjic have been current.
Tijjani Reijnders blasted one straight on the goalkeeper from distance, then the shot-stopper had a a lot harder job utilizing his trailing leg to deflect a Rafael Leao angled drive simply large after sprinting onto an Alvaro Morata by means of ball.
Nonetheless, Milan nearly conceded on 17 minutes when a sequence of weak headers didn’t clear their strains, permitting Andrija Maksimovic to smack his end in opposition to the crossbar, then Younger-Woo Seol’s follow-up was straight at Mike Maignan.
Milan had a double catastrophe when first Ruben Loftus-Cheek after which Alvaro Morata went off injured within the house of 60 seconds.
Tammy Abraham got here on and nearly scored along with his first contact, a header off track, then his free kick was deflected large. He additionally failed to finish the give and go along with Rafael Leao within the penalty space as a promising transfer fell aside.
Milan lastly did break the impasse with a second of magic, as Youssouf Fofana floated an extended ball excessive for Rafael Leao to spring the offside entice, management along with his proper boot and beat the on-rushing goalkeeper along with his left from 15 yards.
Crvena Zvezda goalkeeper Ivan Gutesa made two large saves in first half stoppages, first with one hand on Abraham from shut vary, then on the Fofana header from the ensuing nook on the again publish.
Straight after the restart, Mimovic pressured a save out of Maignan on the close to publish after a give-and-go down the precise, whereas Abraham thought he needed to rating from six yards when chesting down a volley, just for it to be deflected over by Nasser Djiga’s again.
Milan have been unfortunate to not obtain a penalty on the hour mark when Timi Elsnik went in late and appeared to get Yunus Musah on the ankle and little or no of the ball, however the referee and VAR waved play on.
As a substitute, Crvena Zvezda drew stage when former Torino winger Radonjic robbed a sluggish Musah in midfield and unleashed a scorcher from the sting of the world to beat Maignan.
Quite than battle to revive their benefit, Milan have been pressured to hold on beneath stress, as Ivanic sprung the offside entice to flash an angled drive inches large.
They pounced considerably in opposition to the run of play within the remaining minutes, as Francesco Camarda’s looping header bounced off the crossbar and Abraham was quickest to react on the rebound from 4 yards.
Milan 2-1 Crvena Zvezda
Leao 42 (M), Radonjic 67 (C), Abraham 87 (M)
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