Serie A | Cagliari 0-1 Milan: Leao first goal of new year on Fullkrug debut

Pervis Estupinan stepped in for Bartesaghi and immediately made two errors in the first two minutes, which Matteo Prati and Marco Palestra failed to make the most of. Michel Adopo’s header was straight at Mike Maignan, while Sebastiano Luperto prevented Rafael Leao from meeting the Alexis Saelemaekers roll across from the right.

Luca Mazzitelli could only find the side-netting from a smart Prati dinked pass. Cagliari got away with one on the stroke of half-time, as Juan Rodriguez brought down Ruben Loftus-Cheek, but it wasn’t a penalty because Leao was offside in the build-up.

Leao also hit the crossbar at the dawn of the second half, but that wouldn’t have counted either, as the ball had already gone out of play on the corner.

Loftus-Cheek was onside when nodding an Alexis Saelemaekers cross over, and Milan broke the deadlock moments later after starting the second half with a clearly different attitude.

Adrien Rabiot got down the right from a Youssouf Fofana pass and rolled across, as Gabriele Zappa failed to intercept, so Leao controlled with his right boot and fired into the far top corner with his left from nine yards. It was the 12^th time in Serie A this season that Milan had scored with their first shot on target.

Sebastiano Esposito went off with cramp and Niclas Fullkrug made his Milan debut, just hours after completing the loan move from West Ham.

Semih Kilicsoy’s overhead kick was deflected wide by Samuele Ricci, while Elia Caprile’s gloves were stung by Pulisic at the back post on a Fullkrug assist.

Luka Modric’s cheeky free kick was bent low around the wall at the near bottom corner, Caprile scrambling across to push it off the line.

Cagliari 0-1 Milan

Leao 50 (M)

02-01-2026 19:45 MatchDay 18 Unipol Domus (Sardegna Arena)

Cagliari

Milan 0 - 1

Player statistic

2nd half

50'

Rafael Leão (Assist: Adrien Rabiot) Riyad Idrissi 83'     Marco Palestra 90+1'         90+1'

Alexis Saelemaekers

Match statistic

46 Possession % 54 6 Total shots 11 1 Shots on target 4 4 Shots off target 4 1 Blocked shots 3 6 Corners 7 0 Offsides 2 10 Fouls 8 Cagliari Milan

Starting lineups

1

Elia Caprile Goalkeeper 33 Adam Obert Defender 61' 28 Gabriele Zappa Defender 15 Juan Rodríguez Defender 2 Marco Palestra Defender 6

Sebastiano Luperto Defender 4

Luca Mazzitelli Midfielder 83' 16 Matteo Prati Midfielder 61' 8

Michel Adopo Midfielder 94 Sebastiano Esposito Attacker 66' 9 Semih Kılıçsoy Attacker 83' 16

Mike Maignan Goalkeeper 33 Davide Bartesaghi Defender 23

Fikayo Tomori Defender 5 Koni De Winter Defender 2

Pervis Estupiñán Defender 79' 12

Adrien Rabiot Midfielder 56

Alexis Saelemaekers Midfielder 14

Luka Modric Midfielder 8

Ruben Loftus-Cheek Midfielder 79' 19

Youssouf Fofana Midfielder 69' 10

Rafael Leão Attacker

69'

Substitutes

20

Marko Rog Midfielder 14

Alessandro Deiola Midfielder 31

Boris Radunović Goalkeeper 77 Zito Luvumbo Attacker 18 Alessandro Di Pardo Defender 24 Giuseppe Ciocci Goalkeeper 26

Yerry Mina Defender 23 Nicola Pintus Defender 27 Joseph Liteta Midfielder 37 Yael Trepy Attacker 29

Gennaro Borrelli Attacker 61' 3 Riyad Idrissi Defender 61' 10

Gianluca Gaetano Midfielder 66' 30

Leonardo Pavoletti Attacker 83' 21 Nicolò Cavuoti Midfielder 83' 1

Pietro Terracciano Goalkeeper 31

Strahinja Pavlovic Defender 30

Ardon Jashari Midfielder 96 Lorenzo Torriani Goalkeeper 24 Zachary Athekame Defender 27 David Odogu Defender 38

Alex Castiello Attacker 4

Samuele Ricci Midfielder 69' 9

Niclas Füllkrug Attacker 69' 46

Matteo Gabbia Defender 79' 11

Christian Pulisic Attacker

79'