AC Milan at the new look Stadio Friuli in their midweek Serie A fixture.
Goals from Mario Balotelli, Giacomo Bonaventura and Cristian Zapata gave the Zebrette a mountain to climb in the second half, but they certainly tried. Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu and Duvan Zapata reduced the deficit to one goal, but couldn’t complete the comeback as Milan left Udine with all three points.
The Rossoneri took the lead in under five minutes. Mario Balotelli won a free kick on the edge of the area, which he took and scored in spectacular fashion.
It got a lot worse for Udinese coach Stefano Colantuono just five minutes later. Riccardo Montolivo found the run of Giacomo Bonaventura perfectly, who let the ball drop and tapped it past Orestis Karnezis delicately to make it 2-0.
Udinese couldn’t muster a response, with Milan ending the half with one more goal. A corner from Bonaventura was swung in and met by Cristian Zapata, who sent a looping header out of the reach of Karnezis and into the back of the net.
In the second half, the Zebrette pulled one goal back through Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, the Ghanaian latching onto a deflected pass into the box from substitute Duvan Zapata.
Then, the situation changed completely for Milan coach Sinisa Mihajlovic. Cyril Theraeu sent a teasing ball across the face of goal, which Duvan Zapata dispatched with ease. A second booking in extra time for Maurizio Domizzi made the task at hand much more difficult. Despite the home sides renewed hope, Udinese couldn’t level the score.
The Rossoneri have now won their third game of the season with Mihajlovic looking to have them on the right track. For Stefano Colantuono, a draw would have been gold dust, with the Zebrette without a point since their opening day heroics against Juventus.
