AC Milan earned their third successive Champions League win with a 3-2 victory at Slovan Bratislava on Tuesday, hanging on after the home side sought to stage a late comeback.
Milan arrived on the back of a 3-1 win at Real Madrid while Slovan were beaten 4-1 by Dinamo Zagreb last time out in the tournament, but for much of the game the home side looked more than capable of causing their visitors real problems.
The first half ended level with Milan’s Christian Pulisic opening the scoring in the 21st minute before a quick counter-attack led to Slovan’s Tigran Barseghyan equalising three minutes later.
Milan struggled to put Slovan away before substitute Rafael Leão put them back in front in the 68th minute and Tammy Abraham capitalised on a horror back-pass from David Strelec to extend their lead three minutes later.
Slovan pulled a goal back through Nino Marcelli in the 88th minute, and also had Marko Tolic sent off late on, but Milan came through the late drama to move on to nine points.
Slovan, with no points, remain rooted at the bottom of the standings.
Milan controlled the game in Slovan’s half for the opening 15 minutes without creating any real danger before a quick counter from the home side almost let them in to take the lead.
Barseghyan’s pass sent Strelec through on goal where he rounded the keeper but his finish lacked power allowing Strahinja Pavlovic slide in to block the shot.
The visitors finally made their possession count when a through-ball from Abraham on the halfway line set Pulisic free and he raced into the area before angling his low shot into the far corner.
Milan did not learn their lesson from Slovan’s earlier counter and this time Barseghyan collected the ball in his own half without a single opposition player ahead of him.
Tijjani Reijnders was the closest Milan player, but he could not keep pace and Barseghyan calmly lofted the ball over the oncoming Maigan.
Milan sent on Leao at the start of the second half and the Portuguese winger put them back in front after Youssouf Fofana’s cross field pass found him ahead of his marker to coolly slip the ball past the keeper.
It looked all over for Slovan when Strelec played a pass back into the box which only went as far as Abraham who had the simple task of turning and sending a shot past the helpless keeper.
The game appeared all over as a contest but Marcelli’s superb strike from outside the area suddenly gave Slovan hope, but all they could muster was Tolic getting a double booking for a foul and dissent, and Milan survived to take all three points.
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