Champions League | Milan 1-0 Girona: Leao magic for fifth victory | OneFootball

A moment of magic from Rafael Leao and a tight Bryan Gil offside call allowed Milan to register a fifth consecutive Champions League victory, beating Girona 1-0.

The Rossoneri had won four on the bounce in Europe after losing the opening two, but this was their first under new coach Sergio Conceicao after Paulo Fonseca was sacked on December 30. Christian Pulisic was only fit for the bench, with Samuel Chukwueze, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Malick Thiaw injured, plus Fikayo Tomori suspended, so Strahinja Pavlovic got a rare start.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

It was a shock opening for Milan, because Emerson Royal limped off unable to put his right foot down after just four minutes when sustaining a knock, replaced by Davide Calabria.

Tijjani Reijnders forced a tricky save when curling his free kick over the wall towards the near bottom corner, but Yunus Musah missed a sitter when he found himself clear on goal and instead of shooting, opted to roll across for Alvaro Morata for the intercepted pass.

They wasted another extraordinary opportunity on 24 minutes when Rafael Leao surged forward and set up Theo Hernandez, only for the horribly scuffed finish to bounce off the top of the crossbar.

Milan rattled the frame of the goal again five minutes later, this time with a Musah right-foot angled drive from the edge of the area to thump the far post.

Girona almost scored against the run of play moments later, Donny van de Beek dribbling into the box to force a Mike Maignan save from point-blank range.

MILAN, ITALY – JANUARY 22: Yunus Musah of AC Milan shoots whilst under pressure from Ladislav Krejci of Girona FC during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD7 match between AC Milan and Girona FC at Stadio San Siro on January 22, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Maignan also took the sting out of a Viktor Tsygankov effort, but Milan finally made their pressure count.

A corner was cleared, Ismael Bennacer won it back and immediately threaded through for Leao to turn David Lopez inside out, smashing his finish into the roof of the net from six yards with his left boot.

However, Maignan was called to the rescue again in first half stoppages, using an outstretched boot to deflect the Yangel Herrera finish from 12 yards after he had cut inside Pavlovic.

Bryan Gil had the ball in the net for Girona with a sensational left-foot curler into the far top corner, but it was disallowed for the tightest of offside calls, as his toes were over.

Rafael Leao drilled wide from the edge of the box, but the frantic tempo of the first half fizzled away as Milan tried to hang on to the slender advantage.

Milan 1-0 Girona

Leao 37 (M)

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