Last week may have been Bournemouth’s first-ever European home game, but the visit of AC Milan to the Vitality Stadium perhaps represented a bigger occasion. And it was one the Cherries rose to, taking an early lead in fortuitous circumstances.
Marcus Tavernier’s cross skimmed off the head of Evanilson, but after the Brazilian was left kicking himself for a poor miss, he failed to account for the fact that the ball hit Koni De Winter’s hand on its way out.
After consulting the pitchside monitor, a penalty was awarded, and Justin Kluivert converted the resulting spot-kick, emulating his dad’s goal against AC Milan in the 1995 UEFA Champions League final.
An incredible passage of play yielded the Cherries’ second goal, and once again, it was from the penalty spot. A moment of madness from Mike Maignan saw him palm Tyler Adams in the face inside the six-yard box, but as the ball was already in play, a penalty was awarded, one which Marcus Tavernier confidently stroked into the corner.
Bournemouth were so dominant that some of their first-half passes yielded shouts of ‘ole’, and Tavernier nearly garnered the biggest cheer of them all when he whipped a free-kick inches wide of the target.
With the game all but won, it was unsurprising to see Bournemouth take their foot off the gas a little after the break as Marco Rose made a raft of changes on the hour mark with the weekend’s game in mind.
One of his changes, Rayan, ought to have added a third when he climbed highest at the far post to head Adrien Truffert’s delivery narrowly over the bar.
It wasn’t an entirely perfect evening for Bournemouth, who did lose Alex Toth to injury, which served as a slight sour note on the evening for boss Marco Rose.
Understandably, given their man disadvantage, Milan’s attacking offerings were few and far between, but they did almost sneak a consolation through Sankhoun Diawara, whose cross-shot had Michele Di Gregorio worried before landing on the roof of the net.
The final say on the right went to Amine Adli, who curled home a sumptuous free-kick from 25 yards out to round off arguably the best result in Bournemouth’s history as they became the first side to beat AC Milan by three goals in Europe since Paris Saint-Germain in October 2023.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Antonio Silva (Bournemouth)
