AC Milan 0-2 Benfica: Lukebakio and Kaminski score as Amorim's side suffer their first competitive defeat
Lukebakio on 16 minutes and Kaminski on 53: at San Siro Benfica beat Milan in a competitive game for the first time. Milan had more shots but it finished four each on target, and in five games they have yet to score before half-time. Line-ups, numbers, our call and what comes on Sunday.
AC Milan lost 0-2 to Benfica on the opening matchday of the Europa League, in front of 68,393 at San Siro. Lukebakio scored on 16 minutes and Kaminski on 53. It is the first competitive defeat of Amorim's Milan, and Benfica's first competitive win over Milan: in their six previous European meetings Milan had won four and drawn two, including the European Cup finals of 1963 and 1990.
The two goals
On 16 minutes Lukebakio cut in from the right on the edge of the box and scored with his left foot, set up by Kaminski. A minute earlier Maignan had saved from him.
On 53 minutes Durán, standing offside, let the ball run without touching it; El Karouani put it back into the middle and Kaminski finished from close range.
Milan shot more, not better
The match numbers give Milan 59% of the ball, 16 shots to 12 and 10 corners to one. But shots on target finished four each, and Benfica also hit the post through Sudakov on 24 minutes.
Milan's chances: De Winter wasted a free shot in the box on 50 minutes, Trubin saved from Pulisic after the hour and again on 81, and Araújo blocked a Rabiot effort. There were whistles at half-time and at the end.
The choices and the changes
Amorim started with Modrić, Rabiot and Pulisic on the bench. He explained that he left Rabiot out because of the minutes already in his legs, and Pulisic because of his injury history. It was Hutchinson's first start.
Milan (3-4-2-1): Maignan; F. Terracciano, De Winter, Pavlović; Chukwueze, Musah, Jashari, Bartesaghi; Hutchinson, Cissé; Gonçalo Ramos. Pulisic and Gila came on at half-time, Moreira and Saelemaekers on 57, Rabiot on 73.
Benfica (4-2-3-1): Trubin; Banjaqui, Circati, Araújo, El Karouani; Aursnes, Palhinha; Kaminski, Sudakov, Lukebakio; Durán. Marco Silva made nine changes from the game against Gil Vicente, with Sunday's trip to Porto in mind. Afterwards he said there was nothing to celebrate: it was only three points.
The first-half problem
In five competitive games Milan have scored seven goals, all of them after the break: six between the 64th and 69th minutes, plus an own goal on 89. In first halves, none. Against Lazio and against Benfica they went 0-2 down, and they are without a win in three. Amorim admitted afterwards that Benfica had been the better side.
Our call
On AC Milan against Benfica our call was over 1.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10: correct: the game had two goals.
What comes next
Milan are 6th in Serie A on 8 points and host Lecce, who have 6, on Sunday at 20:45 Italian time. It is their last game before the international break: on AC Milan against Lecce our call is under 4.5 goals, confidence 7 out of 10.
Benfica go to Porto on Sunday at 21:30 Italian time for the Clássico, and on Porto against Benfica our call is over 1.5 goals, confidence 6 out of 10.
Every game with our calls is on the Europa League page and on the Serie A page. The record of settled calls is in the results history.
