Milan completed another remarkable turnaround to beat Bologna just days before their Coppa Italia Final clash, as Santiago Gimenez’s brace and Christian Pulisic neutralised the Riccardo Orsolini opener.
By a curious twist of fate, these teams faced off in Serie A just days before meeting again in the Coppa Italia Final, which will be at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on May 14. With Rafael Leao suspended, Youssouf Fofana, Warren Bondo and Riccardo Sottil carrying injuries, Sergio Conceicao used the same starting XI that beat Genoa last week. The Rossoblu missed Dan Ndoye, Emil Holm, Estanis Pedrola and Jens Odgaard, but rotated with Nikola Moro, Martin Erlic, Tommaso Pobega and Benjamin Dominguez stepping in.
Milan wore special shirts with the players’ maternal names to celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Fikayo Tomori’s game did not last long, as he stumbled during a clearance and accidentally fell head-first into Benjamin Dominguez, leaving him rather dazed and having to make way for Malick Thiaw.
Christian Pulisic ran through the middle and saw his shot charged down by Charalampos Lykogiannis, then as the move continued Joao Felix saw his curler deflected inches wide by Lorenzo De Silvestri, with Luka Jovic’s header on the resulting corner captured by Lukasz Skorupski.
Mike Maignan got down for a tough one-handed save on the Dominguez curler from the edge of the area, but Bologna were also forced into a change when Martin Erlic sustained a foot injury.
Riccardo Orsolini wasted two golden opportunities, nodding onto the side-netting at the back post, then ballooning over from 12 yards on the Pobega pull-back.
Orsolini made up for it by opening the scoring straight after the restart, as Thijs Dallinga flicked on a long ball, the winger cut inside Strahinja Pavlovic and curled a left-foot finish into the far bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Theo Hernandez stung Skorupski’s gloves from distance, while Santiago Gimenez had penalty appeals waved away for his coming together with Lucumi and Joao Felix blasted the rebound into the stands.
Milan did equalise moments later, as Samuel Chukwueze sprung the offside trap, his roll across was deflected off Lucumi into the path of Christian Pulisic, who sent Gimenez down the right to slip a finish under the on-rushing Skorupski.
Gimenez had the ball in the net again a couple of minutes after that, but he was offside when beating the Bologna goalkeeper with a delightful lob.
Milan did turn the game around, as Chukwueze ran onto another long ball and pulled it back for Joao Felix, the weak finish bounced off Sam Beukema and into the path of Pulisic to sweep into the far bottom corner.
Bologna very nearly got it back to 2-2 when the ball fell kindly to Nicoló Cambiaghi, forcing a desperate Maignan reaction save at the near bottom corner.
Instead, the Rossoneri sealed it in stoppages when Chukwueze went on the counter-attack, found Gimenez down the left, he cut inside Lorenzo De Silvestri and swept right-footed into the far bottom corner.
Milan 3-1 Bologna
Orsolini 49 (B), Gimenez 73, 92 (M), Pulisic 79 (M)
Player statistic
| 37' |  |
Jhon Lucumí |
| 49' |  |
Riccardo Orsolini (Assist: Thijs Dallinga) | ||
| Ruben Loftus-Cheek | |
60' | ||
| João Félix | |
67' | ||
| Santiago Giménez (Assist: Christian Pulisic) |
|
73' | ||
| Christian Pulisic | |
79' | ||
| Santiago Giménez (Assist: Samuel Chukwueze) |
|
90+2' | ||
| 90+1' | |
Santiago Castro |
Match statistic
Chukwueze changed the game. Ble55 my soul 😅
Milan had to win vs the opposition and the referee again. Freuler and Pobego constantly making pro fouls but no card. Loftus cheek makes one foul and immediately a yellow. Gimenez also denied a pen – Lucumi kicks the back of his ankle but var doesn’t exist for Milan evidently.