After Noah Okafor’s well-taken opening goal in Salzburg, Alexis Saelemaekers earned Milan a point, but nobody anticipated how difficult this Champions League group would be.
Chelsea was defeated 1-0 by Dinamo Zagreb earlier this evening, which was a shocking outcome for the group’s opening match.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Rebic, Florenzi, and Krunic were all injured for the Rossoneri. Adli, Vranckx, Thiaw, Tatarusanu, and Bakayoko are not included in the Champions League list due to squad restrictions.
When Olivier Giroud should have pulled back from the byline, he instead fired straight at the goalkeeper. Fernando’s attempt was blocked after turning Davide Calabria inside out.
Fernando caught Ismael Bennacer off guard and threaded through for Noah Okafor, who ducked under Pierre Kalulu and fired an angled drive across Mike Maignan to give Salzburg the lead.
As the defenders were occupied marking Giroud, the Frenchman literally jumped out of the way of his teammate, Alexis Saelemaekers had time to control the ball and score from 12 yards and had given Milan an equaliser.
The biggest threat remained Fernando, who really ought to have performed better when he mishandled a beautiful cross-goal pass from Maurits Kjaergaard and then failed to match his strong run with a successful finish.
Sergino Dest made his Milan debut, Nicolas Seiwald tested Maignan from a distance, and Tommaso Pobega missed the target.
When the goalkeeper sprinted off his line to stop Brahim Diaz at his feet after Divock Origi had sent the Spanishman through, Origi turned from six yards out on a Theo Hernandez assist, but he scuffed the finish. Rafael Leao’s curler took a significant deflection during stoppages and struck the far post.
At the Red Bull Arena, it comes to a deadlock. The hosts got things going with a lot of vigour and quickly took control of Milan. They benefited just before the half-hour mark when Okafor was fed by Fernando and tricked Kalulu before defeating Maignan. Milan fought back while Salzburg wore down, and Saelemaekers’ deft 10-yard goal during a complex counterattack tied the game. In second half early pressure from Salzburg increased, and Fernando blew a significant opportunity. However, they grew weary, and Milan might have snatched it late when Leao hit the post. However, the home team managed to hang on for a respectable 1-1 draw.
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