AC Milan started their 2023-24 Serie A season with three points, beating Bologna 2-0 in the sweltering summer heat of the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.
Both goals for Milan came in a frantic opening half-hour, with Olivier Giroud getting the first one as he thumped in from a narrow angle to give Tijjani Reijnders his first assist in the process.
Christian Pulisic got his first Serie A goal less than 10 minutes later, rocketing a strike inside the far past from outside the box after some neat interplay with Giroud.
The second half was much more measured from the Rossoneri though they did have chances to inflict an even heavier defeat on their hosts. Nonetheless, they kept pace with the other rivals in Inter, Napoli and Juventus who all also won.
Stefano Pioli decided to go with the line-up that was used for the majority of preseason including Rade Krunic at the base of the midfield, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders as box-to-box players and Christian Pulisic over Samuel Chukwueze on the right wing.
Bologna were inches away from taking the lead within 25 seconds as they quickly spread the ball out to their left-back Lykogiannis, who let fly from 25 yards and rattled the crossbar with Mike Maignan seemingly beaten.
With their first real threatening attack of the game, Milan took the lead inside the 12th minute. A cross from Pulisic on his favoured left foot went deep to the other side of the box, where Reijnders was waiting to lay the ball back across goal first time, and Giroud tucked in from a narrow angle.
Bologna set about trying to level the score instantly and continued their high press, with Zirkzee finding space to run at Malick Thiaw who managed to block his effort, though the follow-up was lashed into the side netting by Ferguson.
In the 21st minute Milan doubled their advantage in emphatic fashion. Pulisic made a dart inside and played a smart one-two with his former Chelsea team-mate Giroud, receiving the ball back and hammering inside the far left post with a rocket from 20 yards.
Milan at this point smelled blood and the opportunity to potentially kill the contest before half an hour had been played. Another cross-field ball from Pulisic landed at the feet of Giroud who hit if first time into the ground and drew a diving stop from Skorupski.
The Rossoneri were occasionally still showing some signs of being a bit shaky defensively, such as when Ferguson was allowed to stride into a shot from just outside the corner of the box that was thankfully straight at Maignan, who parried.
Pioli’s men continued to win the ball back and attack in waves and could have had a third when Leao was found in space on the left side and Theo made a bombing run forward down the middle. The Frenchman got a toe to the ball before the keeper, but the second touch on it was from Skorupski who did well to clear cleanly.
Leao rode his luck a little bit in the final minute of the first half when a Tomori giveaway saw a ball played over the top to Aebischer, who was hauled down by the Portuguese winger right on the edge of the box as Maignan was catching it.
The Rossoblu kept getting chances to get back into the game and wasting them, with the final one of the first half being a free header inside the box from a cross that Posch put well wide.
The end-to-end nature of the game continued in the opening minutes of the second half when Orsolini took a tumble claiming a penalty for a shove by Tomori, then Theo wanted a free-kick after being brought down on one of his surging runs, earning a yellow card for his protests.
Milan’s strategy seemed simple: to soak up Bologna’s attempts to build pressure and then move in numbers up the other end. Krunic could have been a bit more ruthless inside the box after getting the ball back from Reijnders but he took too many touches and bounced off his man.
Ndoye came very close to halving the deficit for Motta’s men when he surged past Calabria into the box and got to the six-yard line, but Maignan’s outstretched leg saved his low shot.
The French goalkeeper was called into action twice more in the following minutes, firstly from Aebischer which he denied with his shoulder and then from flick through a crowd of bodies from the resulting corner.
With 18 minutes left on the clock, Pioli decided to make a quadruple change. Giroud came off for Noah Okafor, Tommaso Pobega was brought on in place of Loftus-Cheek, Pierre Kalulu took Calabria’s spot and Samuel Chukwueze got his Serie A debut with Pulisic coming off.
In truth, the game then began to meander slowly towards the end result as both teams looked to be tired in the 30-degree Emilian heat. Pobega forced a low save from Skorupski with a shot from distance, but the clear chances had evaporated.
The final change came from Pioli with three minutes left as Thiaw was withdrawn and Simon Kjaer came on.
Leao was very unlucky not to fully put the game to bed when he hit the post in the dying minutes. The former Lille man was sent away down the left and rolled sumptuously onto his left foot, beating everyone with a low shot that cannoned back off the woodwork