Feyenoord 1-0 AC Milan: Rossoneri needing second leg comeback after poor display

AC Milan have left themselves with it all to do in the second leg of their Champions League play-off tie against Feyenoord as they lost the first leg 1-0 at De Kuip.

The only goal of the game came in the opening few minutes and in truth it will be one that Mike Maignan would have liked to have done a lot better with. Igor Paixao’s shot from range seemed to take a bounce that surprised him and he could only palm it into the back of the net.

Milan in truth didn’t really deserve anything from the game as they struggled to cope with the intensity of their hosts and the end product was virtually non-existent. A much better performance will be needed next week back at San Siro.

Sergio Conceicao opted to make four changes to the starting line-up from the side that beat Empoli, with Malick Thiaw coming in for Fikayo Tomori, while Christian Pulisic, Rafael Leao and Santiago Gimenez – returning to face his former club – all got the nod in attack.

In the pouring rain of De Kuip, Milan had the first big chance of the game inside three minutes as they cut Feyenoord open in transition. Pulisic squared to Reijnders on the edge of the box who really should have done better with his first-time shot that was instead straight into the arms of Wellenreuther.

The slippy conditions and the missed chance would bite Milan almost instantly as they took the lead through Paixao. The Brazilian was allowed to cut inside and shoot from outside the box and Mike Maignan was beaten at his near post, only parrying the ball into the net.