Milan secure convincing win over Man City in pre-season friendly

Paulo Fonseca’s Milan got off to a strong start in their pre-season tour in the United States, edging out a hard-fought 3-2 win over Manchester City.

Both teams used a mix of regular first team players and youth talents in the test, which saw Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish and Ederson face off against Fikayo Tomori, Ismael Bennacer and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Man City got off to a strong start at the Yankee Stadium in New York, taking a 1-0 lead through Haaland in the 19^th minute after an impressive burst of skill from 21-year-old talent Oscar Bobb.

Milan responded in the 30^th minute through Lorenzo Colombo, who did well to get on the end of a Samuel Chukwueze cross to head it into the hands of Ederson, who could only deflect it into the back of the net.

Only four minutes later, Chukwueze did a carbon copy of that previous cross and again found Colombo, who was equally composed as he poked it through the lets of the Man City number 1, making it 2-1.

After a round of changes at half time, which confusingly included the kits switching to their away variants, Man City came out swinging and found an equaliser in the 55^th minute after a resilient piece of play from Micah Hamilton allowed a cross to fly in for James McAtee, who easily headed it into the back of the net.

Milan did not give up, however, and fought hard to take the lead again in the 78^th minute through Marco Nasti, who comfortably placed his shot in the bottom corner after a low pass from Alexis Saelemaekers, closing out the exciting pre-season friendly.

Man City 2-3 Milan

Goalscorers: 19′ Haaland, 30′ and 34′ Colombo, 55′ McAtee, 78′ Nasti

Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Ederson (81′ Carson); Susoho (46′ Wilson-Esbrand), Simpson-Pusey (46′ Katongo), Doyle, Lewis; Perrone (46′ Phillips), O’Reilly (65′ Fatah); McAtee (65′ Wright), Bobb, Grealish (81′ Gvardiol); Haaland (46′ Hamilton).

Milan (4-2-3-1): Torriani; Calabria (81′ Bakoune), Gabbia (64′ Kalulu), Tomori (64′ Thiaw), Terracciano; Florenzi (40′ Pobega), Bennacer (64′ Álex Jiménez); Chukwueze (64′ Liberali), Loftus-Cheek (81′ Musah), Saelemaekers (81′ Pulisic); Colombo (64′ Nasti).