Despite having eight shots on goal against Newcastle United’s one, Milan’s Champions League group stage debut ended in a dismal stalemate thanks to Nick Pope saves and poor finishing.
After Saturday’s embarrassing 5-1 loss to Inter in the Derby della Madonnina, Milan made lineup adjustments, bringing in Samuel Chukwueze, Tommaso Pobega, and Fikayo Tomori in place of the injured Ismael Bennacer and Pierre Kalulu. Even though Joelinton and Joe Willock suffered injuries and the Magpies had lost three of their first four Premier League games, Tonali came back to San Siro shortly after his €80m signing.
Nick Pope blocked an attempt by Olivier Giroud before saving a shot by Tommaso Pobega. The sequence was capped by a header from Chukwueze at the back post.
From the next corner, Pope made a last-ditch stop on a free header by Theo Hernandez after Rade Krunic had seen his scorcher pushed out from under the crossbar.
After Theo Hernandez’s low pass was missed by Giroud from four yards out, Leao squandered a great chance by first dribbling the ball into the net and then attempting a back-heel flick that went horribly awry; Murphy then cleared Pobega’s follow-up off the line.
Milan had 15 shots to Inter’s 2, with 7 on goal and still it remained scoreless at the break. After Ruben Loftus-Cheek left with a muscle issue, Tijjani Reijnders came on and challenged Pope after a strong solo run.
The entire stadium applauded as Sandro Tonali came on as a substitute and began chanting his name.
Desperate blocks from the defence stopped Christian Pulisic and Theo Hernandez, while Rafael Leao beat his man to head an Alessandro Florenzi cross just over the bar.
Mike Maignan, Milan’s goalie, fell down with a muscle injury, making matters much worse. He was replaced by Marco Sportiello.
While Giroud fired straight at Pope, the crowd jeered Leao for being slow to react with the ball at his feet. Late in the game, with time running down, Newcastle’s Shaun Longstaff got their first and only shot on goal, but Sportiello finger-tipped it over the crossbar.
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