AC Milan were comprehensively beaten 3-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League by Chelsea on Wednesday night after falling behind in the first half.
Milan began promisingly but Chelsea swiftly gained control of the game and their goals came from Wesley Fofana, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Reece James.
Milan started the game as if they were the home team which appeared to catch Chelsea off guard. The Premier League side struggled to get out of their own half in the early exchanges.
Despite that, the Rossoneri were not able to carve out anything resembling a real chance to begin with. The best moment in the first 10 minutes saw Leao work his way into the box where he was almost brought down by Wesley Fofana.
The home side began to exert themselves a bit more on Milan around the 15-minute mark and there was a couple of ropey moments for the Diavolo in possession. The first big chance then fell for Chelsea as Thiago Silva headed powerfully at goal from a corner but Ciprian Tatarusanu was able to palm it over the bar.
That led to a flurry of corners in which Thiago Silva kept getting on the end of everything. His third header led to a save from Tatarusanu and then a scramble in the box saw Fofana poke the ball into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 to Chelsea.
There will be a lot of talk about how Ismael Bennacer was given the job of marking Silva on three successive corners where he got his head to the ball on every single one, the third turning into the goal.
Milan didn’t react well to falling behind and Mason Mount made it 2-0 soon after only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. He lobbed the ball over Tatarusanu but he had made his run too soon to get on the end of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s pass.
Raheem Sterling had a wonderful chance to double the lead towards the end of the first half as he was released by Mount’s pass. He could not shrug off the pressure from Fikayo Tomori and Sandro Tonali though and ended up scuffing his shot in the box and Milan could clear.
The half ended with the best chance for Milan as Leao went on an incredible run into the box. De Ketelaere’s shot was saved and then Rade Krunic saw his shot deflected over the bar. Nothing came from the resultant corner.
The second half commenced in much the same vein and Chelsea soon made it 2-0. An attack ended up with Reece James having ample time to pick out a cross which found Aubameyang in the box who stabbed it home. It was a surprisingly poor attempt at stopping him from Tomori.
It was immediately 3-0 when James got himself on the scoresheet with half an hour left to play. Chelsea were attacking with purpose and the ball worked its way to Sterling. He laid it wide for James as he came into the box and the English full-back smashed it into the back of the net.
The disappointing defeat to Chelsea means that Milan have missed a chance to grab control of the group. They could have been top with a win but now sit third behind RB Salzburg and Chelsea. The points gaps are very low though as Milan and Chelsea have four whilst Salzburg have five.