Milan got their first Champions League points against 10-man Club Brugge thanks to Christian Pulisic directly from the corner flag and a Tijjani Reijnders brace set up by two substitutes.
The Rossoneri were still looking for their first European point after defeats to Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen. Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez returned to the starting XI, with Tammy Abraham, Davide Calabria, Ismael Bennacer and Alessandro Florenzi injured. Club Brugge lost to Borussia Dortmund and won 1-0 away to Sturm Graz. Gustaf Nilsson and Bjorn Meijer were injured, with ex-Bologna midfielder Andreas Skov Olsen carrying a calf issue.
See how the game unfolded on the Liveblog.
Christos Tzolis forced the first save in the opening 120 seconds, as Mike Maignan stuck out a foot to parry at the near post, then was at full stretch to fingertip the Tzolis curler away. On the resulting corner, Joel Ordonez hit a scorcher onto the crossbar with the goalkeeper beaten.
Youssouf Fofana drilled wide along with a Matteo Gabbia header, but the first shot on target came on 28 minutes with Simon Mignolet denying Christian Pulisic at the near post on Leao’s assist.
The deadlock was broken in curious circumstances, because Pulisic tried to put an in-swinging corner onto the head of Gabbia at the near post, but it only skimmed him and surprised Mignolet.
Straight in from the corner 🎯
Pulisic gets the opener in San Siro with a direct corner into the back of the net 😅
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 22, 2024
Moments later, Club Brugge went down to 10 men as Raphael Onyedika caught Tijjani Reijnders on the ankle with his studs. The referee had originally given a free kick to the Belgians, so had to reverse his decision following the VAR On-Field Review.
🔴 Card for Onyedika
1st half drama in #UCL Matchday 3 at the San Siro
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 22, 2024
However, the 10 men of Club Brugge got back on level terms with a well-worked team move from left to right, culminating in a low drive from substitute Kyriani Sabbe into the bottom corner from 14 yards.
“The 10-men of Brugge are level at the San Siro” 💪
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 22, 2024
It was impossible to tell the Belgians were a man down, so Paulo Fonseca took drastic action and it paid off. Within seconds of hauling Loftus-Cheek and Rafael Leao off, substitute Noah Okafor sprinted down the left and pulled back from the by-line for Reijnders to turn in first-time from 12 yards. Leao was still walking off behind the goal and did not celebrate, even when some teammates tried to hug him.
Milan almost added another soon after, this time the Theo Hernandez corner was shinned onto the crossbar by Ardon Jashari.
Fonseca’s substitutes really did pay off, because Samuel Chukwueze then ran down the right and pulled back from the by-line for a very similar Reijnders finish in the other corner.
2️⃣ for Reijnders 🔥
The Dutchman gets his second of the night as Milan take control at home 💪
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/ckKuSRZW2s
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 22, 2024
There was also time for some history, because Francesco Camarda came on for his Champions League debut, becoming the youngest ever Italian and Milan player to feature in this tournament at age 16 years and 226 days.
Incredibly, Camarda flicked in a Reijnders cross from a short corner and thought he had made history as the youngest ever goal-scorer in the Champions League, but VAR ruled it offside.
Milan 3-1 Club Brugge
Pulisic 34 (M), Sabbe 51 (B), Reijnders 61, 71 (M)
Sent off: Onyedika 40 (B)
Player statistic
| 20' |  |
Joaquin Seys | ||
| 23' | |
Ardon Jashari | ||
| Christian Pulisic |  |
34' | ||
| 40' |  |
Raphael Onyedika |
| Rafael Leão | |
50' | ||
| 51' | |
Kyriani Sabbe (Assist: Hugo Vetlesen) | ||
| Álvaro Morata | |
59' | ||
| Tijjani Reijnders (Assist: Noah Okafor) |
|
61' | ||
| Matteo Gabbia | |
71' | ||
| Tijjani Reijnders (Assist: Samuel Chukwueze) |
|
71' | ||
| 74' | |
Michal Skoras | ||
| Francesco Camarda | |
88' |
