Milan: Milan completed an impressive comeback with goals from Rafa Leao and Olivier Giroud to beat Paris Saint Germain 2-1 in their first Group F win in the Champions League 2023-24.
Milan fell behind when PSG defender Milan Skriniar converted a stooping header. The hosts hit back in style via Leao’s close-range overhead kick, after former Milan keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma had denied Giroud.
The game started off with a high intensity, and the first chance came to us inside six minutes through Loftus-Cheek’s left-footed strike that flew just over the bar. Maignan had to be alert to keep out Mbappé’s effort in the 8th minute, but just a minute later PSG broke the deadlock through Skriniar’s header following a corner-kick.
Milan hit back immediately, though, finding the equaliser on twelve minutes: Loftus-Cheek broke away quickly, fed Giroud but his left-foot shot was saved and on the rebound Leao acrobatically turned it home with a delightful bicycle kick to send San Siro wild.
The game remained entertaining despite the number of chances declining somewhat. Two in quick succession did come about, though, after 27 minutes: first Dembele hit the bar with a left-footed curler from the edge of the box, and then on the break Giroud’s attempt hit the side netting from a tight angle.
Just after the half-hour mark, Tomori hit a lovely free-kick that Donnarumma palmed away, while on 37′ it was Leao again who cut inside from the left, but his shot went just wide at the near post.
Milan started off the stronger after the break, and took the lead in the 50th minute when Theo’s cross was perfectly met by Giroud, who rose above Skriniar to power home his header from close range to make it 2-1.
There was bedlam around San Siro as PSG tried to play some different cards by making several changes. But it was AC Milan who came close to scoring again through Theo’s superb free-kick from distance on 63 minutes, which was once again saved by Donnarumma.
The final stages saw the kitchen sink being thrown by PSG. A minute before the end of normal time, Lee cut inside into the box and struck the post with a left-footed effort.
Seven minutes of injury-time agonisingly tickled by, but very little action happened to worry Milan apart from Ramos’ header that fell just wide. At the full-time whistle, it ended 2-1 for AC Milan.
IANS
