A clear injury to Rafael Leao made it a bittersweet seasonal debut for AC Milan such as the Portugal wing player and the American international Christian Pulisic both scored in a 2-0 win over series B Side Bari in the opening round of the Italian cup on Sunday.
Leao seemed to injure his right -hand gall after he had celebrated his main goal early and had to be replaced.
In the meantime, Pulisic succeeded a shot of the first half by closing an exchange with Santiago Gimenez – who stood up for Leao – shortly after the break in the San Siro.
Newly signed Luka Modric stood up in the 66th for his debut in Milan at the age of 39. The former Ballon d’Or winner joined the seven-time European champion at Real Madrid after 13 seasons.
Massimiliano Allegri, who was again hired as Milan coach after winning Serie A with the Rossoneri almost 15 years ago, was suspended. He started to serve a ban of two games for an ugly eruption aimed at the referees during the Italian cup final as manager of Juventus in 2024. The eruption resulted in Juventus who fired Allegri.
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Milan is usually one of the top eight seeds that Byes has for the opening rounds of the Italian cup and starts to compete in December. But the Rossoneri finished eighth in the Italian league last season and lost the Cup final of Bologna. Bologna therefore received the top seeds, even though it ended ninth in the Serie A and pushed Milan down into the earlier rounds.
Milan then faces Lecce at the end of September. Also progressing were: Empoli, Sassuolo, Genoa, Venice, Como, Cagliari, Pisa, Palermo, Frosinon and Parma.
Series A starts next weekend with Milan who open Cremonese promoted on Saturday, again in the San Siro. It is still to be seen whether LEAO will be available for the competition opener.
