AC Milan routs 10-man Slavia Prague 4-2 in first leg of UEFA Europa League round of 16 tie

AC Milan secured a 4-2 victory against 10-man Slavia Prague in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 matchup at San Siro.

Slavia Prague suffered a setback when defender El Hadji Malick Diouf received a straight red card in the 26th minute. Taking advantage of the numerical superiority, AC Milan capitalised with first-half goals from Olivier Giroud, Tijjani Reijnders, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Pulisic's goal steals the show in seesaw battle

Although David Doudera's impressive strike momentarily levelled the score at 1-1 for Slavia Prague, Ivan Schranz managed to narrow the gap midway through the second half. However, Christian Pulisic's late close-range effort provided AC Milan with some breathing space heading into the return leg.

We'll travel to Prague with a lead to defend #ACMSLP #UEL #SempreMilan pic.twitter.com/fd95RWbSZs

— AC Milan (@acmilan) March 7, 2024

 

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Having dropped out of the Champions League, Stefano Pioli’s men came through the play-off round, beating Rennes 5-3 on aggregate, while Slavia had finished first in Group G ahead of Roma.

It had been a bright start by the home side, with right-back Alessandro Florenzi clipping a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area just over the crossbar.

Slavia Prague, though, created the clearest opening of the early exchanges when an angled ball picked out Diouf in the left side of the penalty area, but the defender completely missed his kick.

The Czech visitors continued to offer a threat on the counter attack, and in the 15th minute Doudera sliced his shot wide after breaking into the right side of the box.

 

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Slavia Prague found themselves down to 10 men after just 26 minutes when Diouf was shown a straight red card for catching Pulisic on the ankle with his late sliding challenge.

Milan broke the deadlock in the 34th minute when Giroud headed in at the far post from Rafael Leao’s deflected curling cross out on the left.

 

Slavia strikes back with Doudera's superb volley

 

Slavia, however, hit back straight away as Doudera fired a superb right-footed volley in off the post when the ball dropped to him at the edge of the penalty area following a corner.

Giroud saw his effort saved by Slavia keeper Jindrich Stanek, who then got down to palm away Matteo Gabbia’s header.

That Reijnders finish 🥵#UEL pic.twitter.com/tptN6i3053

— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) March 7, 2024

Milan’s pressure finally told just before the break when Reijnders drove in a low shot from 20 yards after a quick corner was pushed out to the left side of the penalty area.

It was 3-1 in first-half stoppage time when England midfielder Loftus-Cheek powered in a header from a corner.

 

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Soon after the restart, Leao flashed a low drive across the face of goal and Slavia continued to sit deep looking to limit further damage.

𝐁𝐈𝐆 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑 #UEL // @EuropaLeague pic.twitter.com/TAF8N8EFWF

— SK Slavia Prague EN (@slavia_eng) March 7, 2024

The Czechs, though, reduced the deficit in the 65th minute when Schranz fired in an angled strike after Milan again failed to clear a free-kick.

Frustration started to creep in from the home crowd as the Rossoneri failed to break down Slavia’s resolute backline.

Milan eventually restored some breathing space with five minutes left when Leao’s angled chip across goal was touched over the line by Pulisic.

 

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