The 2023/24 Serie A campaign dawned with Milan looking to quickly turn the page on a 2022/23 season that resulted in a disappointing 4th-place finish which felt a million kilometers distant from both the top of the league (20 points behind Napoli) and the previous season's scudetto. Could Stefano Pioli recapture the magic of that 19th Italian championship without the presence of club talismani Paolo Maldini and Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Would a complete revamping of the side's engine room through the transfer signings of the Americans Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah, Dutchman Tijjani Reijnders and Englishman Ruben Loftus-Cheek revitalize an attack that had suffered from a post-scudetto slump?
The season opened at the beautiful Renato Dall'Ara in Bologna, with Milan first rolling out their new look away from home . . .
Bologna (4-2-3-1): Skoprupski; Posch, Beukema, Lucumi, Lykogiannis; Domiguez, Moro; Aebischer (Orsolini 90+1), Ferguson, Ndoye; Zirkzee
Milan (4-3-3): Maignan; Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori (Kjaer 67), Hernandez (Florenzi 24); Loftus-Cheek, Krunic, Reijnders; Pulisic, Giroud, Leao
The new-look rossoneri drew poor reviews in the early going (although the fans of the rossoblu seemed well-pleased), as Zirkzee clipped home Moro's cross in the first ten minutes and then Hernandez was shown the straight red only 24 minutes into the season after launching himself studs-first into the shins of Jens Odegaard. The Danish forward continued to test the Milan defense as they tried to re-organize a man short, and he was brought down clumsily by Thiaw in the box on the half-hour with Zirkzee converting the spot kick for a 2-0 Bologna lead. The visitors regained a little bit of ground just a few minutes later, behind some of the new boys, when Giroud converted Reijnders' cross after Pulisic had broken free into the box, but two yellow cards in the last eight minutes of the half sent Milan off the pitch in a foul mood and still looking at both a one-goal and a one-man disadvantage.
After the break, with a chance to redeploy its resources, Milan seemed to find its way onto a bit more secure footing, and they equalized on 52' when Florenzi forced a turnover in Bologna's end and laid the ball on for Calabria to slot home from just outside the box. Milan were still not having much of the possession, but were dangerous on the counter and apparently not content to sit on the away point from ten men. With fifteen minutes to go, it was Pusilic and Reijnders working together again as the latter whipped a cross into a crowded box and the American bundled the bouncing ball over the line. The Milan defense held on for a quarter-hour to earn an eventful three points that raised as many questions about the side as it answered. [scoresheet]
Men of the Match:
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Christian Pulisic (Milan)
⭐️⭐️ Joshua Zirkzee (Bologna)
⭐️ Davide Calabria (Milan)
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