Morata started his Milan adventure with a 2-2 draw against Torino, but was already receiving praise on his debut day. The striker came on in the last half hour of the match and led the Rossoneri’s comeback, who avoided defeat at the last minute and left the field to a standing ovation from the fans, despite not having started with a victory.
The first surprise of the night was Paulo Fonseca’s starting eleven, who decided to go with Saelemaekers at left-back, leaving Theo out, and Jovic up front, starting with Morata on the bench. Leao did start, and had the home side’s best chances, but he lacked accuracy. The best came in the 41st minute, when with a great run of his he got into a one-on-one with Milinkovic-Savic, who neutralised his low shot. The goal would have meant the 1-1, as Vanoli’s men, dangerous several times with Duvan Zapata, opened the scoring in the 31st minute with an own goal by Thiaw after a header by Bellanova.
The Milanese started strongly after the break, coming close to equalising with Pulisic, and reinforced their starting eleven in the 59th minute. Theo, Reijnders and Morata came on to the pitch, the latter making his debut as a Milan player and being very active straight away. In one of his first moves, he forced a penalty for a diving effort by Coco, which the referee, however, cancelled after having reviewed the defender’s foul on the VAR screen.
In Milan’s best moment, Torino extended their lead with a quick transition that ended with a perfect cross from Lazaro to Zapata, who scored the 0-2 with a header.
Serie A 2024/2025
*Data updated as of August 17, 2024
With 20 minutes to go and two goals down, Milan woke up. Morata gave another warning with a goal ruled out for offside and struck in the 89th minute, when with a Pippo Inzaghi-style finish he converted a Reijnders shot with his toe to make it 1-2. The Rossoneri went all out on the attack and equalised in the 95th minute with a right-footed shot from another substitute, Okafor, released in the heart of the area by a pass from Musah and also thanks to Morata’s movement. Eight minutes added time left time for a final assault and Theo came close to a comeback, but his shot ended up wide. The great reaction in the final stretch provoked applause from San Siro, and much of it went to Morata. In his first half hour as a Milan player he already showed that he will be fundamental.
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Changes
Tijjani Reijnders (58′, Ismaël Bennacer), Alvaro Morata (59′, Luka Jovic), Theo Hernandez (59′, Samuel Chukwueze), Che Adams (59′, Antonio Sanabria), Adrien Tameze (70′, Ivan Ilic), Yann Karamoh (70′, Duvan Zapata), Yunus Musa (72′, Christian Pulisic), Noah Okafor (82′, Davide Calabria), Ali Dembele (87′, Raoul Bellanova), Saba Sazonov (87′, Valentino Lazaro)
Goals
0-1, 29′: Malick Thiaw0-2, 67′: Duvan Zapata1-2, 88′: Morata2-2, 94′: Noah Okafor
Cards
Referee: Fabio Maresca
VAR referee: Daniele Doveri, Marco Di Bello
Exile Vojvoda (46′,Yellow), Samuel Ricci (47′,Yellow), Jovic (56′,Yellow), Adrien Tameze (88′,Yellow), Morata (88′,Yellow), Ali Dembele (96′,Yellow)
