Milan fought back from a Cagliari opener to take all three points in Sardinia with Noah Okafor and Ruben Loftus-Cheek getting their maiden Serie A goals, plus Fikayo Tomori’s tap-in.
The Rossoneri revamped yet again after a series of disappointing performances, ditching the 3-4-3 experiment and bringing in Yacine Adli for injured Rade Krunic. Mike Maignan, Luka Jovic, Ismael Bennacer, Pierre Kalulu and Mattia Caldara were out too, with Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud rested, but Theo Hernandez returned. The Sardinians were still looking for their first victory and while Leonardo Pavoletti, Alessandro Di Pardo and Mateusz Wieteska were back, they remained without Leonardo Pavoletti, Jakub Jankto, Gianluca Lapadula, Marko Rog, Gaston Pereiro, Marco Mancosu and Elio Capradossi.
Tijjani Reijnders flashed a shot across the face of goal to skim the far post in the opening couple of minutes, while Zito Luvumbo had penalty appeals waved away when Fikayo Tomori snatched the ball off his foot.
Noah Okafor nodded a Reijnders pull-back over from close range after a smart Adli cross-field pass, then scuffed the finish straight at Boris Radunovic from 12 yards.
It was Cagliari who took the lead when Luvumbo robbed Adli in possession, combined with Nahitan Nandez and unleashed a scorching left-foot strike from the tightest of angles into the roof of the net.
Milan managed to equalise with the first goal from Okafor in this jersey, but it was rather gifted to him by Radunovic, who fumbled the Christian Pulisic pull-back from the by-line, allowing a tap-in from six yards.
Radunovic made up for it soon after with a fingertip save to push the Theo Hernandez strike over the bar, but from that corner Reijnders flashed a powerful assist across the face of goal and Fikayo Tomori bundled it in from point-blank range to turn the game around.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek almost got a third on the stroke of half-time, poking the Chukwueze through ball to draw a save with Radunovic’s outstretched foot.
Adli flung himself in the way of a Luvumbo finish from point-blank range, but just as Cagliari were pouring forward, Milan extended their advantage.
Pulisic got down the left and pulled back to outside the area, where Loftus-Cheek had time and space to control and unleash a right-foot rocket into the near bottom corner, his maiden Serie A strike.
Yunus Musah hit a volley hard and low, but straight at Radunovic, then Sportiello had to make a tough reaction save as Luvumbo robbed Tomori to set up Gaetano Oristanio’s spectacular control, turn and volley.
Cagliari 1-3 Milan
Luvumbo 29 (C), Okafor 40 (M), Tomori 45 (M), Loftus-Cheek 60 (M)
Player statistic
| Zito Luvumbo (Assist: Nahitan Nández) |
 |
29' | ||
| 40' | |
Noah Okafor | ||
| Mateusz Wieteska |  |
42' | ||
| 45+1' | |
Fikayo Tomori |
| 48' | |
Ruben Loftus-Cheek | ||
| Gabriele Zappa | |
53' | ||
| 60' | |
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Assist: Christian Pulisic) | ||
| Gaetano Oristanio | |
79' |
Match statistic
