AC Milan 2-1 Red Star: Abraham’s late winner secures fourth straight UCL win | OneFootball

AC Milan made it four wins in a row in the Champions League by beating Red Star 2-1 at San Siro, but they needed a late goal to spare their blushes.

After a couple of unfortunate changes due to injuries early on, things took a turn in a more positive direction for Milan when Rafael Leao collected a ball over the top from Youssouf Fofana and finished.

However, Radonjic came off the bench to score a rocket of an equaliser in the second half, prompting fears of more dropped points as the former Torino man stunned the home crowd.

Just as it looked like the game was drifting towards a draw, Tammy Abraham was there in the right place at the right time to lash home a rebound as Francesco Camarda came close to scoring again, making it 2-1.

That’s how the score would stay, and though the means weren’t pretty the end result is four straight wins in the Champions League and a continued push towards the top eight spots.

Paulo Fonseca made two changes to the team that lost against Atalanta on Friday, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek coming in for the injured Christian Pulisic and Davide Calabria taking the starting right-back role from Emerson Royal.

Milan as expected made the better start to the game and the first half-chance fell to Calabria. The full-back had got forward in a central area from the right and received a cut-back from Yunus Musah that he blasted high and wide first time.

Moments later the two teams traded efforts from distance. The first was a shot from Spajic that curled beyond Mike Maignan’s left post, and the second a rocket from Tijjani Reijnders that was down the middle to Gutesa’s relief in the Red Star goal.

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Gutesa’s first save of the game was a big one and it came in the 14th minute. Rafael Leao powered away one on one with Djiga, shifting it onto his left foot and seeing his low shot stopped by the goalkeeper’s trailing leg.

Milan’s defensive frailty was exposed when Maksimovic was inches away from giving the away side the lead. Twice a bouncing ball inside the box was not clear and the attacking midfielder hit a first-time shot into the ground which then struck the crossbar before being eventually dealt with.

There was a worrying moment in the 25th minute when Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Yunus Musah both went down at opposite ends of the field in obvious discomfort. The American continued, while the Englishman was replaced by Samuel Chukwueze.

Things got even worse a few minutes later when Alvaro Morata took a tumble and fell awkwardly. He tried to play on but couldn’t, so a second change was needed to bring Tammy Abraham on.

Abraham almost made an instant impact as Milan broke quickly and spread the ball to the left. He met Reijnders’ cross with a firm header that was blocked wide, yet a corner wasn’t given.

The striker wasn’t far away again just after the half-hour mark, striking a free-kick 25 yards from goal that just whipped wide of the near post.

In the 42nd minute, Milan did get themselves in front and it was a quite simply brilliant goal from Leao. He made a run off the shoulder of the last man that was perfectly timed and found by Fofana’s ball over the top, with the first touch settling it and the second sending it into the roof of the net.

Red Star had Gutesa to thank for only being one goal behind at the break as he made two smart saves. Firstly he kept Abraham’s attempted chip out from deep inside the box after Leao found him in behind, then from the resulting corner he tipped over Fofana’s header that was looping in from a narrow angle.

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

The second half began in a rather worrying way as the pressure came from Red Star. Mimovic came close with an attempt Maignan did well to save, then Silas drilled a low cross/shot across the face of goal that evaded everyone and everything.

In the 53rd minute, Abraham missed a big opportunity to double the advantage. With the goal gaping and the ball sitting up for him a few yards out, he somehow hit the back of the defender who was falling over.

Just before the hour mark Milan had strong appeals for a penalty turned down. A challenge came in just inside the box and appeared to stamp into Musah who went down, yet replays suggests the defender got a small touch on the ball which saved him.

Then, in minute 66, the visitors silenced the home crowd by drawing level. Musah attempted to dribble out from deep in his own half despite mostly having his back to goal, seeing the ball stolen and a rocket of a shot from the ex-Torino man Radonjic beating Maignan.

The more likely side to go in front then looks like the Serbians, with Ivanic making a run in behind that was found by a pass but the forward rolled the shot just wide of the far post.

With seven minutes left on the clock a double change followed from Fonseca: Francesco Camarda and Emerson Royal came on, with Calabria and Musah making way.

As the time ticked away and the home crowd grew more and more frustrated, Milan found the goal to get themselves back ahead in the 88th minute. A free-kick was recycled and crossed by Chukwueze, met by Camarda’s looping header that Gutesa somehow tipped onto the bar, then Abraham was on hand to fire in from close range.