Milan cruise past Venezia at San Siro to keep perfect start alive

Milan won again without breaking a sweat, sealing a 2-0 victory over Venezia at San Siro, though the scoreline took a long time to catch up with what was happening on the field. Gonçalo Ramos had missed half a dozen chances before the game was finally decided in the last twenty minutes.

Through the first half, Milan tried everything. Ramos fired a right-footed shot wide moments after kickoff, then tested the Venezia goalkeeper again in the 11th minute with a low effort that was saved to his left. He kept trying in the 21st, 32nd and 41st minutes, but nothing would go in. Venezia, far from sitting back, answered through John Yeboah and Akor Adams, who each forced a couple of scares with shots that flew just wide of the posts. That back and forth carried the teams into the break still scoreless.

Milan kept pushing after the restart. Yunus Musah rattled the crossbar in the 54th minute after a free kick from close range, and Ramos tried again with a header shortly after. Venezia's resistance finally cracked in the 68th minute, when a counterattack ended with a cross from substitute Alexis Saelemaekers and a left-footed finish from Ramos inside the box to make it 1-0. The goal arrived just as the match was starting to stall, giving Milan the cushion it had been chasing for most of the night.

The second goal came late, in the 88th minute: a shot from Ardon Jashari was saved by the goalkeeper, but the rebound ended up in the back of the net after deflecting off Redouane Halhal, who had only just come on for an injured teammate a few minutes earlier. With the score at 2-0, Venezia tried to pull one back in stoppage time through Akor Adams and Armel Bella-Kotchap, but neither shot found the target.

A game of total control

The numbers back up what was clear on the field: a Milan side that controlled possession and generated far more offense, and a Venezia team that defended with discipline but lacked the tools to threaten consistently.

The post-match xG figures, calculated from shot locations, tell the same story: 3.32 for Milan against just 0.69 for Venezia. That gap confirms the home side created plenty of dangerous chances for most of the match, even if it struggled to finish them off until well into the second half.

Pre-match projections had given Milan a 60 percent chance of winning, against 16 percent for Venezia and 24 percent for a draw, with expected goals of 1.95 for the home side and 0.91 for the visitors. The final result lined up neatly with those numbers: Milan was the better team, and the scoreline, though it took its time to arrive, ended up matching what was expected before kickoff.

What it means in the standings

With this result, Milan moved to 6 points from two matches, with two wins and no goals conceded. Venezia, meanwhile, has lost both of its opening games and still hasn't picked up a point. The gap between the two clubs in the table now stands at 6 points, a fair reflection of what played out at San Siro: one team in full control, the other still searching for its first bit of relief at the start of Serie A.