Red Bull Salzburg and AC Milan balanced each other on Tuesday evening. In Austria it was 1-1 by goals from Noah Okafor and Alexis Saelemaekers. Sergiño Dest made his debut for the Italians by entering the field after an hour of play. The result put Dinamo Zagreb in the lead in Group E, which beat Chelsea earlier in the evening.
Milan started as expected with Dest on the bench. The Dutch American came over from Barcelona this summer and was part of the Milan match selection for the second time. Trainer Stefano Pioli chose Olivier Giroud in the striker, with Rafael Leão behind him and the Belgian couple Saelemaekers and Charles De Ketelaere. On the side of the Austrians, ex-Ajacied Maximilian Wöber had to drop out in the warm-up. Trainer Matthias Jaissle opted for the striker duo Okafor and Fernando in the front, which meant that Benjamin Sesko had to make do with a place on the bench.
The encounter started without too many chances. Apart from a number of corner kicks, few noteworthy opportunities were created. That changed in the 28th minute, when Salzburg took the lead via a wonderful goal from Okafor. The Swiss international played Pierre Kalulu through the legs and finished coolly behind Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan. Salzburg could enjoy the equalizer for twelve minutes, before Saelemaekers made it 1-1. Rafael Leão received the ball from a counterattack after a nice pass from Ismael Bennacer. The Brazilian then received the ball from Saelemaekers, who shot in with the left via goalkeeper Philipp Köhn.
????????! ???? A brilliant counter results in a goal for AC Milan! ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #SALMIL pic.twitter.com/ui0YuNatAb
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) September 6, 2022
Seven minutes after the break Fernando had to take care of the 2-1. Okafor delivered the ball to Maurits Kjaergaard, who had a nice cross to the far post against Fernando. However, the Brazilian shot wide. Moments later, the striker who had come over from Shakthar Donetsk had another chance, but this time his attempt was turned down by Maignan. Dest was then brought in by Pioli for Davide Calabria, who did not appreciate his substitution and became visibly angry with his trainer. Salzburg was the better match in the first quarter of the second half and kept pushing. Nicolas Seiwald shot the leather into the right corner, but Maignan had a nice save.
In the following phase, both teams struggled to create chances. Both Salzburg and Milan tried via high balls, while many combinations failed. Substitute Divock Origi, who came on for Giroud, was also difficult to find. Still, the champion of Italy seemed to take the lead in the final phase via Brahim Díaz. The attacker seemed to have the ball for tapping, but was just too late and committed a foul on Maignan. On the other hand, substitute Sesko threatened with a hard shot, but the Slovenian saw his effort go just over the wrong side of the post. Origi was still a toe-length short in the absolute final phase to pin the winner, while Leão hit the post in the final seconds.