UCL | Milan 2-1 Crvena Zvezda: Abraham secures fourth straight victory

Rafael Leao and a late Tammy Abraham tap-in gave Milan their fourth consecutive Champions League victory, but it was surprisingly tough against Crvena Zvezda with more injury worries.

The Rossoneri had pushed past a rough start to win three European ties on the bounce, including the victory away to Real Madrid, but in Serie A were coming off an ill-tempered loss to Atalanta. Christian Pulisic, Noah Okafor, Alessandro Florenzi, Ismael Bennacer and Luka Jovic were injured, so Ruben Loftus-Cheek stepped into the trequartista role.

Crvena Zvezda lost 4-0 here to Inter earlier in the campaign, but since then had also beaten VfB Stuttgart 5-1. Omri Glazer and Peter Olayinka didn’t make the trip, though ex-Milan midfielder Rade Krunic and former Torino winger Nemanja Radonjic were present.

Tijjani Reijnders blasted one straight at the goalkeeper from distance, then the shot-stopper had a much tougher task using his trailing leg to deflect a Rafael Leao angled drive just wide after sprinting onto an Alvaro Morata through ball.

However, Milan almost conceded on 17 minutes when a series of weak headers failed to clear their lines, allowing Andrija Maksimovic to smack his finish against the crossbar, then Young-Woo Seol’s follow-up was straight at Mike Maignan.

Milan had a double disaster when first Ruben Loftus-Cheek and then Alvaro Morata went off injured in the space of 60 seconds.

Tammy Abraham came on and almost scored with his first touch, a header off target, then his free kick was deflected wide. He also failed to complete the give and go with Rafael Leao in the penalty area as a promising move fell apart.

Milan finally did break the deadlock with a moment of magic, as Youssouf Fofana floated a long ball over the top for Rafael Leao to spring the offside trap, control with his right boot and beat the on-rushing goalkeeper with his left from 15 yards.

Crvena Zvezda goalkeeper Ivan Gutesa made two huge saves in first half stoppages, first with one hand on Abraham from close range, then on the Fofana header from the resulting corner at the back post.

Straight after the restart, Mimovic forced a save out of Maignan at the near post after a give-and-go down the right, while Abraham thought he had to score from six yards when chesting down a volley, only for it to be deflected over by Nasser Djiga’s back.

Milan were unlucky not to receive a penalty on the hour mark when Timi Elsnik went in late and seemed to get Yunus Musah on the ankle and very little of the ball, but the referee and VAR waved play on.

Instead, Crvena Zvezda drew level when former Torino winger Radonjic robbed a sluggish Musah in midfield and unleashed a scorcher from the edge of the area to beat Maignan.

Rather than fight to restore their advantage, Milan were forced to hang on under pressure, as Ivanic sprung the offside trap to flash an angled drive inches wide.

They pounced somewhat against the run of play in the final minutes, as Francesco Camarda’s looping header bounced off the crossbar and Abraham was quickest to react on the rebound from four yards.