Luka Romero and Fikayo Tomori’s goals gave Milan a 2-0 lead at the half, and ultimately, their performance was a tale of two halves.
Just before the hour mark, Federico Valverde tied the game for the La Liga squad with two quick goals. The game-winning goal was then scored in the final 10 minutes by Vinicius Jr.
Whatever the outcome, Stefano Pioli’s team had a valuable practice session on the west coast of the United States because some of the returning foreign players got some playing experience.
Including players like Marco Sportiello, Jan-Carlo Simic, Alessandro Florenzi, Tommaso Pobega, Junior Messias, and Lorenzo Colombo in his starting lineup was definitely not Pioli’s first choice. This was due to the fact that Milan’s international players had just returned to training and were therefore not eligible to begin.
When Valverde fizzed a low effort just wide of Sportiello’s left-hand post, the team that had the honor of playing at home that night had the first significant opportunity of the game.
The 17th minute saw Milan’s first warning sign as Mendy handed the ball to Colombo following some superb pressure. Colombo then unleashed a powerful shot from the box’s edge that narrowly missed the bar.
Following what appeared to be a foul, Ruben Loftus-Cheek collapsed and grabbed the back of his ankle, but he was still able to continue.
Following what appeared to be a foul, Ruben Loftus-Cheek collapsed and grabbed the back of his ankle, but he was still able to continue.
Shortly after, Junior Messias received the ball from Loftus-Cheek, who then outran Real and curled a shot just wide and past the top corner.
Just after the midway point, Messias collapsed holding his hip, causing Pioli to decide to take him out of the game; Luka Romero, a summer addition, took his place.
Primrose’s back center Simic started since Matteo Gabbia was going to Villarreal soon. Simic made a strong block to thwart Militao’s attempt to score inside the box.
Romero made an incredibly strong initial impact. Three minutes before halftime, Krunic performed an outstanding job of winning the ball back high up the field.
Sportiello made an outstanding save to maintain the two-goal advantage as Vinicius continued on a weaving run inside the area, where he slid past Tomori and shot with the outside of his boot.
Leao was impressive throughout his brief debut and came close to scoring with one of his deadly darts to the left. Romero beat his defender to the byline and set up Tijjani Reijnders for a shot, but Romero missed the rebound when he ought to have done better.
The game’s final opportunity came from Giroud’s free kick from about 25 yards away, and he came dangerously close to scoring despite Lunin being vastly outmatched.
The next Milan game will be against Juventus on Friday at a very early hour at the Dignity Health Sports Park.