Milan put in a magnificent performance to conquer Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid at the Bernabeu with Malick Thiaw, Alvaro Morata and Tijjani Reijnders goals.
The Rossoneri finally got off the European scoreboard with a 3-1 win over 10-man Club Brugge, but moved Yunus Musah to a more advanced role down the right with Rafael Leao back in the starting XI, as Matteo Gabbia, Ismael Bennacer, Luka Jovic and Alessandro Florenzi were out of action. Carlo Ancelotti was smarting after the 4-0 LaLiga defeat to rivals Barcelona, also losing 1-0 to Lille in the Champions League. Rodrygo was only fit for the bench, with David Alaba, Dani Carvajal and Thibaut Courtois injured.
See how the game unfolded on the Liveblog.
There was a minute’s reflection before every game for the victims of the devastating floods in Valencia.
Kylian Mbappé flashed an angled drive across the face of goal, while Theo Hernandez had a dangerous sprint forward to test Andrey Lunin.
It was Milan who broke the deadlock from a set play, as Christian Pulisic curled his corner onto the head of Malick Thiaw to steer into the roof of the net from five yards.
Mbappé threatened to equalise immediately, forcing Mike Maignan to get down for a tough save. They did break through when Theo Hernandez gave the ball away and Emerson Royal went into a mistimed sliding tackle on Vinicius Junior. The referee pointed to the spot and Vinicius converted with a cheeky dink.
Lunin got down to palm a Tijjani Reijnders daisy-cutter round the post, then on the resulting corner the goalkeeper just about punched a cross off the head of Thiaw.
Milan restored their advantage when Pulisic got down the right and rolled across for Rafael Leao, who turned his marker to shoot low from 13 yards, forcing a one-handed save from Lunin, with Morata quickest to react on the rebound.
Maignan used his outstretched leg for a huge save on Mbappé at the near post, but Carlo Ancelotti had to shake things up with Eduardo Camavinga and ex-Milan starlet Brahim Diaz on for the restart.
However, Leao had a big chance to make it 3-1 when his header from Emerson Royal’s cross was acrobatically palmed out of the top corner by Lunin.
Milan wasted a promising counter-attack too and Mbappé drilled wide from a Luka Modric through ball, but Morata’s back-heel flick from another Pulisic corner thumped the outside of the near post.
The Rossoneri extended their advantage when Rafael Leao turned on the after-burners to leave Eder Militao stranded and pulled back for Tijjani Reijnders to control and prod in from seven yards.
Maignan was right behind the Rodrygo curler, but the goalkeeper flapped horribly at a Dani Ceballos cross and allowed Antonio Rudiger to fire the rebound into an empty net. However, somewhat controversially, the VAR disallowed it for Rodrygo’s offside position without him ever touching the ball, so it was a decision that should’ve been made via On-Field Review.
Milan threatened again with Theo Hernandez sprinting down the left to roll across for the Ruben Loftus-Cheek tap-in, Lunin parrying with his legs from point-blank range.
Maignan also made a fantastic one-handed reaction save on the Brahim Diaz glancing header from close range.
Real Madrid 1-3 Milan
Thiaw 13 (M), Vinicius Junior pen 23 (RM), Morata 39 (M), Reijnders 73 (M)
Player statistic
| 12' |  |
Malick Thiaw (Assist: Christian Pulisic) | ||
| 21' |  |
Álvaro Morata | ||
| Vinícius Júnior |  |
23' | ||
| 39' | |
Álvaro Morata (Assist: Rafael Leão) |
| Eduardo Camavinga | |
58' | ||
| Éder Militão | |
68' | ||
| Lucas Vázquez | |
68' | ||
| Vinícius Júnior | |
71' | ||
| 73' | |
Tijjani Reijnders (Assist: Rafael Leão) | ||
| 85' | |
Youssouf Fofana |
Match statistic
Bravo, AC. I wish you did this to Napoli. 😀 Today 1, 1, 1.