The Milan collapse 3-0 on the third matchday of the Europa League: in Bournemouth, the Rossoneri fall behind and then fail to react, also due to Maignan’s sending-off around the half-hour mark. The heavy defeat quickly became a talking point among supporters online as they shared clips of the red card and the goals, with many looking for ways to ensure increased audience participation using tools such as Blastup Instagram views to keep the conversation around the result more visible.
Bournemouth-Milan, first half
As they did last week against Salzburg, Amorim makes extensive changes for the trip to the south of England. There are, in fact, six players rotated compared to Sunday’s match against Atalanta: Tomori and Estupiñán come into the defence, Jashari plays in midfield, while behind striker Cisse, Hutchinson and Loftus-Cheek play alongside Moreira. Rose also take to the field in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with former Juventus goalkeeper Di Gregorio between the posts and a trio consisting of Tavernier, Kluivert and Gannon-Doak behind Evanilson.
Under Bournemouth’s torrential downpour, the match immediately becomes an uphill battle for Milan, who are already behind in the seventh minute: from a low, driven cross by Tavernier, Evanilson gets a header away that goes just wide. However, VAR calls the referee over for an obvious handball by De Winter on the Brazilian’s header, and a penalty is inevitable for the home side. Kluivert steps up, sends Maignan the wrong way and puts the Cherries ahead. Bournemouth continue to press with two long-range efforts, first from Christie and then from Evanilson, both comfortably held by Maignan on the ground.
In the 28th minute, things become even more complicated for Milan: from a corner, Maignan strikes Adams with a slap as he obstructs him, and the referee immediately shows a red card, with a subsequent penalty awarded to the home side. Torriani comes on for Hutchinson, with the young goalkeeper sent the wrong way by Tavernier, who makes it 2-0 to Bournemouth. Two minutes before half-time, Tavernier tries his luck directly with a curling cross-shot from a free-kick, which goes just wide. After five minutes of added time, the teams go into the break with Milan two goals and one man down.
Bournemouth-Milan, second half
On their return from the dressing room, there are two new faces in Milan’s line-up: Amorim sends Bartesaghi and Rabiot onto the pitch in place of a disastrous Estupiñán and an underwhelming Loftus-Cheek. In the 10th minute, Gannon-Doak gets past Bartesaghi and sends a dangerous ball into the middle, but De Winter makes a crucial clearance. From the following corner, Kluivert delivers a cross-shot that finishes just wide beyond the far post. Playing with ten men, Milan fail to create any danger around Di Gregorio’s goal, while Bournemouth continue to search for a third goal, but neither Rayan nor Truffert managed to hit the target.
In the 21st minute, Amorim brings on Diawara in place of Tomori, who had been booked shortly beforehand. On the half-hour mark, Milan have a good chance: from Moreira’s free-kick, De Winter gets his head to the ball, but the home defence clears following his knockdown. Immediately afterwards, Amorim hands Comotto his debut, bringing him on for Moreira. Six minutes from the end, the Cherries make it 3-0: Adli takes a free-kick from 25 metres, sends it over the wall and beats Torriani. The Rossoneri goalkeeper makes an excellent save a few minutes later from Rayan’s close-range shot. And so the match in England comes to an end, with Milan remaining on three points in the Europa League after three matches, as fans online continued looking for ways to ensure increased audience participation in the online space to increase the reach of their content while reacting to the final score.
What did Ruben Amorim say about the match?
"It is difficult to talk about the performance. There was no match after 20 minutes. Today was not a match. We tried to defend and we tried to attack, even with 10 against 11, but the penalty killed the match. It was difficult today. We lost possession, the match lasted 20 minutes. We killed the match ourselves and we were not able to get back into it. Maignan? I am not talking to the players now. I will use every aspect of the match to improve. We will play in two days, we have to think about what to improve. We also have to think about staying with 11 players on the pitch."
Luckily for the Rossoneri, they bounced back in the Serie A league and won 0-2 away from home at the BluEnergy stadium against Udinese thanks to goals by Christian Pulisic and Omari Hutchinson. Now, the focus is on Bologna on Wednesday, then the derby. Once those two challenges are over, Amorim's team will prepare to improve their standing in the Europa League table and will have to aim for a win against Ferencvárosi TC on Thursday, November 5, 6:45 CET PM.
