(Football news) AC Milan revived their hopes of reaching the Champions League knockouts with a 4-0 win against Dinamo Zagreb in Group E. Back-to-back defeats by Chelsea had left Milan with plenty to do to qualify for the knockout stages, but Matteo Gabbia's header in the first half set them on their way to a very important victory in Croatia. Rafael Leao's solo run and finish in the second half put the game beyond doubt before France striker Olivier Giroud made sure of the three points with a penalty before the hour mark.

A late own goal put the icing on the cake for their second win of Milan's European campaign that moved them up to second place in the group with seven points. If AC Milan just avoid defeat next week against FC Salzburg, they will reach the round of 16. Milan's win also meant that Chelsea progressed to the round of 16 as group winners after their 2-1 win over Salzburg while Zagreb stayed bottom on four points and most likely won’t qualify for the knockout stages. They looked nervous early on as Zagreb started off the group in emphatic fashion and won against Chelsea at home in their opening match. Gabbia scored his first-ever goal for AC Milan from Sandro Tonali's set piece.

Milan then went on to waste several chances before making it two when Leao opened his Champions League account for the season with a slotted finish four minutes after the half time break. Giroud could have had a handful of goals but the veteran striker had to settle for his well-taken penalty. Robert Ljubicic was very unfortunate with an own goal and ensured that AC Milan scored four goals in a Champions League match for the first time since beating Arsenal 4-0 at the San Siro since February 2012. It was also the first time AC Milan had scored four in an away match in the UCL since beating Fenerbahce 4-0 in November 2005. The Chelsea defeat leaves Milan with no room for error as they still need to produce a result against RB Salzburg to reach the last 16 for the first time since 2013-14.

"I think it is clear that our growth continues with qualification," Milan coach Stefano Pioli said. "We have to play with our mentality and it is the next step, where we will show that we are doing better than last year. After fixing some positional problems, we resumed attacking with many players. It is an important victory and we know it. We must close out the job next week."

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