This was a momentous night in Bournemouth’s history, although the truth is they would have been given a far sterner examination by Coventry or Hull. Whatever this rotten impersonation of a Milan side was, it bore no relation to those that forged such a celebrated history. The visitors resembled holograms even before their goalkeeper Mike Maignan, with an extraordinary rush of blood resulting in a penalty and red card, rendered their task impossible. They never showed the slightest hint of putting up a fight.
Bournemouth simply swamped the seven-time European champions and, amid a swirling south coast storm that rarely let up, could depart singing in the rain. Amine Adli’s sumptuous late free-kick, curled left-footed from 22 yards, meant they could finish the evening with the flourish they deserved. Their joy was clear at full-time and met disapproval from some of Milan’s staff, who appeared to take umbrage in a short-lived fracas near the tunnel afterwards.
It was certainly an abject return to English soil for Ruben Amorim, who could have been excused in seeing this particular week as the opportunity to prove a point. Amorim may view Bournemouth as kryptonite given they beat his Manchester United side by an identical scoreline at Old Trafford in December 2024. As it happens that is where the Cherries head on Sunday. On this damning evidence the modern version of Milan share more than a few similarities with his former employers.
“A difficult night in every aspect,” Amorim said. It began with a downpour and waves of Bournemouth pressure, an incisive move ending with Justin Kluivert missing his kick and Ben Gannon-Doak’s drive deflecting wide. Milan failed to clear their lines from the resulting corner and were punished when VAR found Koni De Winter had deflected Evanilson’s header wide with his arm. Kluivert converted the spot kick coolly and the die was firmly cast.
Amorim’s attempt to divide the match into two parts, before and after Maignan’s 27th minute dismissal, cut no ice. Bournemouth’s tempo had been far too much for Milan before that, Maignan saving untidily from Ryan Christie after Yunus Musah’s pocket had been picked. “We just suffocated them, we didn’t give anything to them,” said a satisfied Marco Rose. “The way they did it today was just brilliant from the first minute until the last.”
When Maignan clawed James Hill’s deflected shot wide, everybody on view set up for a left-sided corner. Nobody was prepared for Maignan, who perhaps expected to be manhandling a taller opponent, to shove Tyler Adams in the face as the ball was sent in. It was a moment of supreme idiocy from the captain; the penalty award was inevitable and so, even before confirmation via VAR, was his departure. This time Marcus Tavernier did the honours, beating the replacement keeper Lorenzo Torriani.
Barely half an hour in, the outcome had been settled. Bournemouth could hardly have imagined, in making their “great escape” from the fourth-tier trapdoor in 2009, that they might land in such a position against Italian royalty. Past luminaries looked on from the stands, Harry Redknapp among them, while their polished successors turned the screw down below.
The relentless Gannon-Doak, called “a special player” afterwards by Rose, thrilled and frustrated in equal measure; the substitute Rayan almost set up a goal for Christie with a delightful piece of skill. It was Adli, another replacement, who applied a delicate garnish.
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Conference League: Salah breaks Hearts and Brighton held by Jablonec
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Injury-hit Hearts produced a spirited display in Turkey but ultimately went down to a 2-0 Conference League defeat at the hands of Mohamed Salah-inspired Trabzonspor.
The Scottish side acquitted themselves well amid a hostile atmosphere before going down to Salah’s first-half penalty and a second-half strike from Franculino, laid on by the former Liverpool star (pictured).
The defeat leaves Wouter Vrancken’s side with one point from two matches ahead of their trip to Swiss champions Thun in a fortnight. Their visit had started in painful fashion after left-back Harry Milne suffered a suspected anterior cruciate ligament injury during training.
Brighton drew a rare blank as they were held to a goalless draw by Czech minnows Jablonec. The Premier League’s top scorers, who have scored 23 goals across their first seven matches, misfired badly in the foothills of the Jizera Mountains in northern Czechia.
Brighton head coach Fabian Hürzeler, in his 100th match in charge, made eight changes from that memorable win with only Bart Verbruggen, Olivier Boscagli and Pascal Gross keeping their places. The visitors squandered a host of chances, the best falling to Jack Hinshelwood, Georginio Rutter and Ibrahim Osman, and Jablonec were looking the likelier to score towards the end.
Antonín Rusek almost capitalised on a mistake by Joao Costinha before Verbruggen had to make a spectacular fingertip save to prevent Jiri Slama’s drive from hitting the top corner. Press Association
What a night, then, for a club that knows what it is to gaze into the abyss. “How did we end up here?” asked the public address announcer before kick-off, a question repeated on a banner hoisted by the Steve Fletcher Stand, but it was worth posing in a different sense too. The sizable elephant in the room was how the Premier League’s 15th-placed team could face down one of Serie A’s most decorated institutions, unbeaten domestically this season, and simply sweep them off the park.
In truth nobody could feign too much surprise; certainly not the bookmakers, who deemed Bournemouth the pre-match favourites. Scoffing at Milan’s inadequacy is, up to a point, simply plucking low-hanging fruit. Football’s ecosystem has arrived in a glum place where outwardly fairytale occasions like this are packaged with caveats: even the English top flight’s relative minnows are, through financial and physical power, playing on a different pitch to representatives of leagues once deemed its equals.
For those understandably immersed in the here and now, Rayan came close to a superb fourth. “I’m happy for our fans especially,” Rose said. It is unlikely to be Bournemouth’s last European gala show.
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