AC Milan 1-3 Liverpool: Set pieces the downfall as Rossoneri surrender early lead | OneFootball

AC Milan began their 2024-25 Champions League campaign with a defeat as they were beaten 3-1 at San Siro by Liverpool on Tuesday night.

Things started brilliantly for Milan when Christian Pulisic drilled a low shot inside the far post less than three minutes into the game, but then Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk each scored headers from set-pieces to turn the game on its head before the break.

Liverpool hit the woodwork twice, then Dominik Szoboszlai was on hand to turn in a third from close range and effectively put the game to bed, and in truth the Rossoneri never really looked like getting back into the game from there.

It is a result that certainly undoes a lot of the good work from Saturday’s 4-0 win over Venezia, and it puts further pressure on the Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen games which arrive within the next three rounds.

Paulo Fonseca chose to make three changes to the starting line-up from the side that beat Venezia on Saturday night with Davide Calabria and Fikayo Tomori coming into the back four and Alvaro Morata chosen to lead the line.

Milan broke the Liverpool line inside two minutes when a pass was played in behind to Morata who had run off the shoulder of the last man and his square ball was cut out virtually on the goal line by Virgil van Dijk. However, the offside flag went up moments later so it wouldn’t have counted.

Inside three minutes Milan broke the deadlock, and it was a lovely flowing move that cut the away side apart. Morata did brilliantly to spring a counter with a pass down the middle, then as Pulisic looked all set to square it he fired low and hard inside the far corner with Alisson Becker beaten.

Liverpool came inches away from levelling the scores through their talisman Mo Salah. The winger picked up possession on the right side of the box after a pass from Diogo Jota and unleashed a rising shot that seemed to take Mike Maignan by surprise as it thundered against the crossbar.

In the 23rd minute, the away side got themselves level and it came from a very straightforward set-piece goal. Calabria had complaints about the free-kick being awarded over on the right side as he got a yellow card, but when the delivery was floated in both Maignan and Tomori failed to beat Konate to the cross, which was headed in quite easily.

Liverpool should have taken the lead not long after equalising when a sloppy giveaway in midfield saw Milan caught in transition, with Gakpo slipping Mac Allister in behind and yet he scuffed his effort wide. Moments later, Salah shot straight at Maignan inside the area as the Reds began to get on top.

Salah was proving to be a constant thorn in Milan’s side as he kept getting big chance after big chance. Just before the half-hour mark he again was given time to let off a shot from the right side of the box and again it thumped the bar, this time bouncing down and to safety.

Maignan had twice gone down in the first half with what looked like some discomfort in his thigh, yet he produced some good reactions to deny – you guessed it – Salah’s low shot that was heading for the bottom right corner.

From the resulting corner, Milan conceded their second set-piece goal of the night. This time the delivery came from the other side and this time it was the other central defender Virgil van Dijk who got on the end of it, heading in from just a few yards out after being left remarkably unchallenged.

The final action of the first half saw Gakpo cut in onto his right foot from the left side and fire a venomous shot that was sailing inside the far post before Maignan extended a hand out to turn it behind.

After withstanding some issues in the first half, Maignan was clattered into by both Jota and Tomori as he made a brilliant stop to deny the Liverpool forward and it was finally time for Lorenzo Torriani to make his Champions League debut.

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Just before the hour mark, Milan had a big appeal for a penalty when a cross to Morata appeared to be potentially controlled by the hand of Van Dijk before he then bundled the Spaniard over as he tried to get to the loose ball. Nothing was given, and Fonseca was booked for his protests.

Torriani’s first real test came from a narrow angle shot that he did well to stop from Szoboszlai, and the rebound fell to Tsimikas who lashed a low attempt wide of the far post.

Having been denied not long before, Szoboszlai did get the goal that put Liverpool in command. A slack pass from Pavlovic into the midfield was seized upon to start a three-on-one break, with Gakpo squaring to the Hungarian who volleyed in off the far post.

A change came with 20 minutes left as the captain Calabria made way for Emerson Royal, and he appeared to be in some discomfort as well. Loftus-Cheek also made way, with Tammy Abraham coming on in his place.

Shortly after Noah Okafor came on in Morata’s place, Theo came close to halving the deficit with a rocket of a first-time drive from 20 yards out that whistled past the far post.