AC Milan 0-2 Benfica: Rossoneri suffer nightmare start to Europa League campaign
AC Milan fell to defeat in the first game of their 2026-27 Europa League campaign, losing 2-0 to Benfica at San Siro.
The tone for the evening was set when Dodi Lukébakio fired in after 16 minutes having gone close from a similar situation just one minute earlier. In the second half, Jakub Kamiński made it 2-0 with a first-time shot into the roof of the net, and their defence kept Milan at bay.
It is not the result that the Rossoneri wanted to begin their European journey by any stretch of the imagination, and it already feels like an uphill battle to try and climb towards one of the spots in the top eight.
First half: The Eagles have landed
Ruben Amorim chose to make five changes to the starting line-up from the team that drew with Lazio. He opted to put faith in Filippo Terracciano, Ardon Jashari, Davide Bartesaghi, Omari Hutchinson and Alphadjo Cisse in what was quite a youthful side, while Benfica made nine changes from the weekend.
Milan began the game as they had done most of the other four this season: looking slow and unassured in possession. Benfica pressed high with at times six men jumping to disrupt the build-up phase, and they pushed their hosts back deep.
The first bit of danger generated by Milan came down the right side with Samuel Chukwueze driving inside and finding Goncalo Ramos, who laid off to Hutchinson. His whipped cross was a dangerous one and was taken off the head of the two arriving at the back post, with a corner the result. From that, a counter saw Strahinja Pavlovic become the first one booked.
Benfica’s first sight at goal came in the 15th minute, with the lively Lukebakio collecting a feed down the right after Bartesaghi had dived in and missed the ball in midfield. Thankfully, the Belgian’s tame effort was saved by Mike Maignan, having cut in onto his left and shot from 20 yards.
That was the warning sign though, and just over one minute later Benfica took the lead in very similar circumstances to how the first shot came. Lukebakio was shown inside onto his left and was allowed to drift across the edge of the box by Bartesaghi, eventually unleashing a shot from a central area that nestled into the bottom-left corner.
Milan were fortunate not to go two goals behind at the midway point of the first half as the visitors rattled the post. A misplaced pass backwards from Musah was seized upon and eventually found Sudakov, whose attempt from the edge of the box beat Maignan but rattled the base of the post.
The Rossoneri’s first effort on target came from an unlikely source in Terracciano. After a good spell of pressure, the centre-back sensed the chance to let fly from about 25 yards out and he drew a diving save from Trubin.
As the first half drew to a close, there were a couple more half-chances. Firstly Kaminski nearly went through on goal having been found by a lovely ball in behind Chukwueze, but the Nigerian recovered well to put him off. At the other end, Bartesaghi’s cut-back seemed to be on a plate for Ramos but he was beaten to it, then a few minutes later Jashari fired just over the bar having spun and fired.
The final attempt of the first half came in the only minute of added time: Cisse was allowed time to shift the ball onto his right foot and curl a shot from inside the box that was on target but snatched from under the crossbar by Trubin.
Second half: Away side go home happy
It has been a common theme already this season that Amorim has had to make changes to correct aspects of the starting XI that hadn’t worked, and this was no exception. Mario Gila replaced Terracciano at the break, while Christian Pulisic came on for Hutchinson.
Milan started the second half brightly, and Koni De Winter really should have levelled the game five minutes into it. A feed from Jashari to Cisse resulted in the latter having a shot blocked to the centre-back, who – with the goal gaping – managed to lash a first-time shot over and wide.
Benfica would make their hosts pay for the miss as they doubled their advantage at the other end. The Rossoneri seemed to switch off when a blocked shot headed towards the offside Duran, but he got out of the way and that allowed El Karouani to cut back to Kaminski, who found the roof of the net with an excellent snapshot.
More changes followed from Amorim with the home crowd beginning to grow disgruntled. Diego Moreira and Alexis Saelemaekers were the two men who came on, with Cisse and Bartesaghi the ones to make way.
Two of the substitutes nearly combined to give Milan a route back into the game as a corner taken short saw Saelemaekers find Pulisic’s run down the left edge of the box, but the American’s first-time shot was straight at Trubin.
With Milan prodding and poking but not really looking like getting the goal that would ignite a frenzy, Amorim made his final alteration as Adrien Rabiot replaced Jashari in the double pivot. The Frenchman’s first action was to thump a decent shot narrowly over from 25 yards.
As hopes of a comeback began to dwindle, Pulisic drew a good low save from Trubin down to his left that forced a corner. It was taken short, and Chukwueze’s inviting in-swinger was glanced wide by Ramos.
