Milan storms back to beat Manchester United 4-2 in club friendly

Milan came from behind twice against Manchester United and ended up winning 4-2 at the Tarczynski Arena, in a club friendly that opened with a lightning-fast goal and was ultimately decided by a lethal Milan second half led by Samuel Chukwueze, who finished with a goal and two assists.

A match of swings

United could not have asked for a better start. Just 1 minute in, Harry Maguire put the hosts ahead with a header off a Bruno Fernandes corner delivery. Milan gradually settled into the game, though, and equalized in the 36th minute through Samuel Chukwueze, assisted by Goncalo Ramos, sending the teams into the break level at 1-1. Right before halftime, Bruno Fernandes had a chance to restore United's lead from the penalty spot after a foul by Koni De Winter inside the box, but Fernandes himself missed the shot. The second half turned into an open, end-to-end affair. Patrick Dorgu put United back in front in the 50th minute with a clean strike toward the middle of the goal, but Milan's response was immediate: in the 56th minute Alphadjo Cisse, again set up by Chukwueze, made it 2-2. From there, Milan seized control of the match for good with two goals in the space of three minutes: Goncalo Ramos headed home in the 67th minute, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek added another in the 70th minute, with the two forwards and Chukwueze combining on assists between them to seal the 4-2 final score.

The numbers behind the dominance

The stats clearly reflect the superiority Milan established, especially after the break. The Italians controlled possession, created more clear-cut chances and finished with more shots overall and on target.

The gap of six big chances to one goes a long way toward explaining why the final score ended up so lopsided despite United's fast start. In the xG calculated after the fact from the shots taken in the match, Milan generated 2.641 expected goals to United's 1.914, a figure confirming that Milan's edge on the scoreboard was backed up by the run of play and was not just clinical finishing on the day.

What the preview said versus what happened on the field

The projection published before kickoff gave Manchester United a 47% chance of victory, put a draw at 29% and gave Milan just a 24% chance of winning, with expected goals of 1.5 for the hosts and 1 for the visitors. Reality completely upended that forecast: not only did the team given the lesser odds come away with the win, it did so by scoring four goals, well above what was projected, while United also topped its own projected tally but fell short in the end.

Final analysis

Milan walked away with a resounding win built in the second half, with Samuel Chukwueze the standout performer thanks to his direct involvement in three of the four goals, and with Goncalo Ramos and Ruben Loftus-Cheek delivering the finishing blows. For Manchester United, there is the consolation of a strong start capped by Maguire's goal and a few offensive flashes, but also the reality that once Milan seized control of the match's tempo after the break, United had no answer to contain it.