AC Milan suffered a scare against Dudelange, coming back from a goal down to eventually win 5-2 at the Stadio San Siro in their Europa League Group F encounter.
Patrick Cutrone put the Rossoneri ahead midway through the first half, but Dominik Stolz equalised before half time. Then, unbelievably Dudelange took the lead when Dave Turpel blasted past Pepe Reina just after the break.
It didn’t last as Cutrone got his second, and Hakan Calhanoglu put Milan back into the lead, then Tom Schnell made sure of the result for the Rossoneri with an own goal, and Fabio Borini got a fifth.
Victory, coupled with Olympiacos’ loss at Real Betis, means the Rossoneri can lose 1-0 in Athens and still advance to the knockout stage.
Just over 15,000 at the San Siro saw Milan start well, peppering the goal with shots, though goalkeeper Landry Bonnefoi wasn’t tested much by the Rossoneri.
However, that Milan pressure paid off as a ball into box was flicked into the path of Cutrone by Gonzalo Higuain, and he turned well before firing under Bonnefoi to give Rossoneri the lead.
From there it looked as if Milan were going to easily collect all three points, but very much against the run of play Dudelange equalised.
A long cross from the left missed everyone in the box and fell to Stolz who blasted into the top corner.
Things went from bad to worse for Milan, as just after half time the ball fell to Turpel in the penalty area, and he rifled into the bottom left corner.
Dudelange went close to adding another as Edisson Jordanov fired just wide of the far post. However, Milan got themselves level just after the hour.
Çalhanoglu whipped the ball in from the left towards Cutrone but Cruz got the final touch and it bounced past his own goalkeeper.
Milan got themselves back into the lead when a low 35-yard drive from Calhanoglu was just out of Bonnefoi’s reach, and found the back of the net.
And moments later Schnell diverted a Calhanoglu freekick past Bonnefoi to give Milan a two-goal lead, then Borini blasted home from close range after Calhanoglu hit the crossbar.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Dudelange only went professional for the Europa League campaign, and their No.9 Danel Sinani is a student. And even though Gattuso put out a second string Milan XI, this shouldn’t have been as much of a struggle as it was. When Dudelange scored, and even more so when they took the lead, Milan looked like they didn’t care, there was no impetus and no fight, which as you can imagine sent Gattuso spare on the sidelines. Boasting Higuain and Cutrone upfront, and Calhanoglu in midfield, Milan should have had no issues against the Luxembourg minnows, they did and that isn’t a good sign.
