A new season of sports
With 10 games unbeaten in the league, AC Milan are firmly in third place in the league and although they have little hope of winning the title, they will not have much problem retaining their Champions League spot. In the first leg of the Europa League play-offs, Milan faced Rennes at the San Siro, Loftus-Cheek scored a goal in each half, Leao sealed the win, Milan swept Rennes 3:0, and it can be said that one foot has stepped into the round of 16 of the Europa League.
Because of the regret of being out of the group of death in the Champions League, Milan had to come to the Europa League. Rennes have not been bad lately, with no defeat in the last nine games. In order to take the lead in the first leg, Pioli did not reserve many of the main players of the moment, Maignan guarded the goal; Te'o captained the backline with Gabia, Kjaer and Florenzi; Reinders, Loftus-Cheek and Moussa in midfield; Christian Pulisic, Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao all hit the ball up front.
Milan quickly entered attacking mode after the opening, and in the 7th minute, Leao hit the woodwork with a breakthrough of individual ability; One minute later, Reinders' flat-corner volley from outside the box was only slightly over the crossbar; In the 10th minute, Loftus-Cheek went down and Moussa flanked and pushed wide of the goal. In the 22nd minute, Te'o took a corner kick, and Leao hit the goal with a header at the back post, but the ball unfortunately missed the bottom line.
Under Milan's continuous attack, Rennes' backline, which was in a defensive posture, also loosened, and in the 31st minuteFlorenzi's diagonal long pass from the right side was hoisted into the penalty area, ambushed in front of Loftus-Cheek, and shook his head to break the deadlock, 1:0! In the 36th minute, Milan continued to attack, Giroud got rid of a low shot from the periphery, and Mandanda quickly went down to block the shot of his former national team teammate; It wasn't until the 39th minute that Douai completed Rennes' decent shot before half-time with a low shot from a lateral escape.
Just three minutes after returning from the second half, Milan quickly extended their advantage; 48th minute,Te'o took a corner kick, Kjaer shook his head in front of the goal, Mandanda saved the ball for the first time, but Loftus-Cheek in front of the goal immediately made up for the next goal, 2:0! Loftus-Cheek scored twice and scored his seventh goal so far this season, and the arrival of him and Christian Pulisic has greatly boosted the creativity of Milan's frontline, with fans deriding them for their technical poverty alleviation.
53rd minute,Leo and Te'o made a wonderful two-person cooperation, Leao turned around on the left side of the rib and plugged it straight, Te'o knocked back the triangle at the bottom, Leao kept pushing the ball, Mandanda had no choice, 3:0! Rafael Leao scored the full 50th goal of his Milan career; At the same time, Milan scored two goals in seven minutes to seal the victory in advance. Stefano Pioli also took a three-goal lead before bringing on substitutes such as Terracciano and Bennacer, while Loftus-Cheek, Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic were withdrawn to rest.
In the 80th minute, Guiri broke into the penalty area and fired a powerful shot that was blocked by Maignan, and Santa Maria's long-range shot from the periphery grazed the crossbar; In the 85th minute, Bennacer's cross was broken, and Te'o's non-stop volley from the periphery also missed the goal. In the 88th minute, Bennacer's direct free-kick from the top of the arc went straight to the goal, Mandanda was already unresponsive, but the ball still flew off the crossbar. In the end, Milan still kept 3:0 until the end of the game, with 3 goals in hand, and there was no problem in advancing to the knockout round in the second leg; With the league basically retaining the Champions League place and the Coppa Italia already out, the Europa League is Milan's only remaining hope of winning the title this season.