(Football news) The tie is definitely leaning towards AC Milan, but it is far from over after an exciting first leg that saw them take a 4-2 lead. Playing with a man light for more than an hour, 10-man Slavia put in a brave display that allowed them to maintain the tie despite great opposition.
After the first goal by Olivier Giroud, everything appeared to be heading in one way for the Czechs, who were put on the back foot by El Hadji Malick Diouf’s early red card. San Siro was quiet, though, as Mike Maignan was unable to save David Doudera’s blistering shot, which brought the visitors level.
Milan would go into the break with a two-goal lead though, thanks to late first-half strikes from midfield duo Tijjani Reijnders and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Another eye-catching strike pulled Jindrich Trpisovsky’s back into it though, as Ivan Schranz lashed one home midway through the second half to make it 3-2, but Christian Pulisic made the most of excellent work from Rafael Leao to restore that two-goal advantage.
While being the big outsiders having to claw back the deficit, Slavia can take positives into the second leg as they chase a fourth European quarter-final in six seasons. Historical results at home to Italian opposition make for encouraging reading to Slavia too, as they have won four and drawn two of their eight meetings with Serie A side on home turf.
A two-goal win is needed to at least force extra time though, but they did manage that when they welcomed Italian opposition to the Fortuna Arena in the group stages, as Roma were beaten 2-0 here by the Cervenobili in November.
The weekend’s 4-0 thumping of Teplice may give them additional confidence heading into this one, as paired with Sparta Prague’s heavy defeat to Viktoria Plzen, Slavia are right back in the title race domestically.
They have only scored one goal in their last four knockout games in this competition, and they have not won any of their previous four. However, they have not been good at Europa League knockout play, especially at home.
The only two victories Milan has had in their six travels to Czechia came against Sparta, Slavia’s crosstown rivals in 2020–21.
Milan appears to be in control of the match, but there is a lot of discussion regarding their tendency to blow large leads in European matches. This was seen in the Champions League final in 2005 and the quarterfinal match against Deportivo La Coruna in 2003–04, where Milan lost despite leading 4–1 after the first leg.
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