AC Milan 4-2 Juventus
Rafael Leão scored arguably the biggest goal of his AC Milan career so far as the Rossoneri staged an astonishing comeback from 2-0 down to beat Serie A champions Juventus 4-2 at San Siro.
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo scored one of the visitors’ goals as Juve took a commanding lead after the break, but youngster Leão emerged from the bench and scored the goal which put Milan ahead and on the way to a most unlikely victory.
After a goalless first half, the game exploded into life just a couple of minutes following the re-start when Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot carried the ball from inside his own half to the opposition box, before calming clipping a left-foot shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma for a sensational opener.
Ronaldo looked to have put the game beyond Milan when he took advantage of some lax defending to put the Bianconeri two goals up a little over five minutes later. However, Milan were given a lifeline on the hour mark when a penalty was awarded for a Leonardo Bonucci handball and Zlatan Ibrahimovic confidently halved the deficit from the spot.
By the time Zlatan converted his spot-kick, substitute Rafael Leão had joined him in attack and when Franck Kessie drew Milan level on 66 minutes, the stage was set for the Portuguese youngster. Within a minute of the equaliser, Leão beat Juve goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny with a smart near-post finish to complete a remarkable 5-minute turnaround. Ante Rebic put the seal on the win with ten minutes to go after a disastrous piece of play from ex-Porto left-back Alex Sandro.
Ironically it was Ronaldo who lost possession in midfield ahead of Leão’s moment of glory, but for Portugal fans the sight of strikers at either end of the age spectrum shining is great cause for optimism. Leão’s goal – his third in his last four substitute appearances – continues the highly productive form of various Portuguese forward players across Europe since football’s restart.
Rafael Leão has scored three goals in his last four appearances for Milan, all from the substitutes bench.
— Sean Gillen 🇵🇹 (@SeanGillen9) July 7, 2020
3 goals from just 107 minutes on the pitch #clinical pic.twitter.com/1rGHSeVWm4
By Sean Gillen
