AC Milan impressed in the first round of Serie A, after putting three goals past Cotrone to win it away from home.
AC Milan started off with a lot of pace to their game, while not letting Crotone see much of the ball. Already in the 4th minute, Cutrone was fouled inside of the penalty box, hindering him from getting a shot away. The referee saw the situation and blew his whistle and pointed to the penalty spot, yellow card for Ceccherini.
However, Milan players wanted him sent off, as Cutrone was through on goal. The referee, therefore, decided to use VAR and the yellow card was changed to a straight red.
After all this, in the sixth minute, Franck Kessie stepped up to take the penalty and didn’t make any mistakes. 1-0 to Milan at the very beginning of the game.
Milan then continued to control the ball until the 18th minute, when Suso managed to find Cutrone with a great cross from the right-hand side. The young Italian met it with his head perfectly and it was 2-0.
Just five minutes later, a nice cross made its way to Cutrone, who played the ball to Suso. The Spaniard didn’t hesitate and took the shot straight away, 3-0 to Milan.
Crotone then decided to sit back with more or less all of their ten players, while Milan only managed to create a few half-cut chances.
Kessie came closest to scoring the fourth goal but was denied brilliantly by Cordaz in goal for Crotone.
The score remained 0-3 into the half-time break with Milan having an impressive 78% of the possession.
The first half was very offensive and the second half turned polar opposite with the first real chance not coming until 70 minutes in.
The 58th minute saw Locatelli receive a yellow card for a sliding challenge that missed the ball but took down two players in the process.
Sixteen minutes into the second half and Milan’s first substitution was made. Arguably the man of the first half, Cutrone, came off for Andre Silvia’s Serie A debut. Following the first substitution came the second, Ignazio Abate on for Andrea Conti.
Crotone pushed forward for what seemed to be their first attack of the match but it was thwarted when the captain, Leonardo Bonucci slid into the challenge, earning himself a yellow card.
The final substitute of the night for Milan came in the form of José Mauri on for Manuel Locatelli after 83 minutes of play.
Worry sunk in for Milan late in the game as Hakan Çalhanoglu fell injured, clinching his calf. However, he later returned to the game a few minutes later.
Andre silva was denied his debut league goal but not for lack of trying. The young Portuguese striker was denied twice by incredible goal keeping.
The match finished with a comfortable 3-0 win for AC Milan to start the season against a ten-man side in Crotone. The next match will be on Thursday in Macedonia for the second leg of the Europa league qualification round which Milan are comfortably up 6-0 from the first leg.
