AC Milan ensured their place in the Europa League group stage after beating Rio Ave 9-8 on penalties in the playoff round with the game locked at 2-2 after extra time at a rain sodden Estadio dos Arcos in Portugal on Thursday evening.
A second half strike from Alexis Saelemaekers would give the Rossoneri the lead, before Francisco Geraldes brought the Rioavistas level with a quarter of the game remaining.
Then a well taken goal by Gelson gave the hosts the advantage less than a minute into extra time, but a penalty from Hakan Calhanoglu in 122nd minute sent the game into a penalty shootout.
Simon Kjaer would give the Rossoneri the advantage in the 13th round of the shootout and Gianluigi Donnarumma would save Nikola Jambor’s effort to send his team into the group stage.
