Milan found it difficult to defeat Verona, but a magical moment with Santiago Gimenez on the acrobatic Rafael Leao assist sealed the win.
In the first 140 seconds, the goalie terribly mishandled a Duda strike and allowed it to slither over the bar, only days after the Mike Maignan howler in Rotterdam.
The goalie had to push the swerving cross-shot from Joao Felix with one hand after Tijjani Reijnders made a difficult stop from Lorenzo Montipò at the near post.
After straying into an offside position, Santi Gimenez got the ball in the net with a precise snooker shot past the sprinting goalie.
During the first half stoppages, Yunus Musah had a great chance to put Milan ahead, but he blew up on the Gimenez roll across.
Alex Jimenez and Rafael Leao entered the game for the restart, but the Verona midfielder was lucky not to be given a second yellow card for the provocation after the full-back was booked for pushing Duda.
Under pressure from Toma Suslov, Joao Felix went over, Rafael Leao had a few tries deflected, and Musah’s shot from the area’s edge missed the far top corner.
Milan’s well-executed maneuver finally ended the standoff. Leao’s cushioned volley off the outside of the boot sailed the ball over the defender and goalie after Alex Jimenez dinked it up from the area’s edge. Santiago Gimenez then nodded in from point-blank range.
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