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Milan Adds to Real Madrid’s Struggles

Milan deepened Real Madrid’s troubles by handing the reigning Spanish champions another loss, just after a 4-0 home defeat to rivals Barcelona. This time, Milan defeated Real 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu in the fourth round of the newly formatted unified Champions League group stage.
This was the first Champions League encounter between Real and Milan since the 2010-2011 season, when Real won 2-0 at home and drew 2-2 away in the group stage. For Real Madrid, this marked their second loss in the competition this season after falling to Lille 0-1 in the second round, leaving them with 6 points at this stage.
Real Madrid entered the game with a physical advantage, having had their local league match against Valencia postponed due to flooding in Valencia. However, they were unable to redeem themselves in front of their fans, who had recently witnessed their team suffer a heavy defeat to Barcelona on October 26.
The recent loss to Barcelona was in contrast to Real’s impressive performance in their last Champions League outing, where they overturned a two-goal deficit to win 5-2 against Borussia Dortmund, with a hat trick from Brazilian star Vinícius Júnior.
The game was particularly significant for Real’s coach Carlo Ancelotti, who previously won the Champions League twice as a player and twice as a manager with Milan.
With only their second victory in eight visits to Real’s stadium in European competition, Milan appeared to have regained their footing following initial losses to Liverpool (1-3) and Bayer Leverkusen (0-1). Milan had secured their first win against Club Brugge (3-1) and now against Real Madrid.
It wasn’t an ideal start for Real Madrid, as they found themselves trailing (1-0) in the 12th minute when German defender Malick Thiaw scored his first goal for Milan with a header from a corner by Christian Pulisic. This marked Thiaw’s first goal in his 60th appearance across all competitions for the “Rossoneri.
Real responded with intense pressure in search of an equalizer but was repeatedly denied by French goalkeeper Mike Maignan, particularly during one-on-one duels with Kylian Mbappé. Vinícius Júnior eventually leveled the score with a Panenka-style penalty after being fouled by Emerson Royal (23’).
Milan nearly retook the lead with a long-range strike from Dutchman Tijjani Reijnders, but Real’s Ukrainian goalkeeper Andriy Lunin made an impressive save. Soon after, Spanish forward Álvaro Morata, a former Real player, capitalized on a rebound after Lunin parried a shot from Portuguese forward Rafael Leão (39’).
After a brilliant save by Maignan against Mbappé in the 44th minute, the first half ended with Real Madrid trailing. The home team applied pressure at the start of the second half but came close to conceding a third goal, thanks to a remarkable save from goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, who denied a powerful header from Rafael Leão in the 52nd minute. Later, Álvaro Morata’s strike was denied by the post in the 69th minute.
However, Milan sealed the game with a third goal when Tijjani Reijnders finished off a swift counter-attack. Starting near his own penalty area, Reijnders received a pass from Leão, who sprinted down the left side and crossed it to him. Reijnders controlled the ball expertly and fired it into the net in the 73rd minute.
Real Madrid tried to get back into the match with several attempts, including a disallowed goal from Kylian Mbappé after a VAR review. Maignan made another key save in the closing moments, denying Brahim Díaz’s header from close range.

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