A second half strike from Samuel Chukwueze handed Milan a 1-0 victory over Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid in Paulo Fonseca’s second pre-season friendly in the United States in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Milan 1-0 Real Madrid
Milan now have two wins in five days in the USA, following a 3-2 win over Manchester City early on Saturday morning.
Fonseca named a similar team to the one that beat Guardiola’s side in New York. Malick Thiaw came in for Matteo Gabbia at the back, the young Mattia Liberali came in for stand-in midfielder Alessandro Florenzi, and Marco Nasti replaced the now-departed Lorenzo Colombo up front.
Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah were on the bench; they both returned from Copa America duty with the USMNT earlier this week. Rafael Leao has also returned to training but was not involved against Madrid.
Ancelotti named a strong side given his available options, including stars Thibaut Courtouis, Antonio Rüdiger, Luka Modric, Arda Güler, debutant Endrick and former Milan loanee Brahim Diaz.
Milan limited the reigning Champions League winners to just two shots in the first half, and could have had the lead after just four minutes when Chukwueze pounced on a loose ball in the area.
Courtois stood firm to deny him. The Belgian also denied Nasti from close range a few minutes later.
Milan’s breakthrough came 10 minutes into the second half.
Fikayo Tomori’s high pressing freed Liberali, who carried the ball deep into the Madrid half before sending two defenders the wrong direction with his lay-off to Chukwueze. The Nigerian made no mistake with his first-time finish from the edge of the six-yard box.
The Rossoneri have one more pre-season friendly scheduled in the United States, against Barcelona against Barcelona at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Wednesday morning (UK time), Tuesday afternoon (local).
Milan (4-2-3-1): Torriani; Calabria, Tomori, Thiaw, Terracciano; Bennacer, Loftus-Cheek; Chukwueze, Liberali, Saelemaekers; Nasti.
Real Madrid (4-3-3): Courtois; Vazquez, Vallejo, Rüdiger, Garcia; Modric, Martin, Ceballos; Güler, Endrick, Diaz.