Cutrone Inspires AC Milan To Remarkable Comeback Win

By Joshua Walters 

AC Milan staged an incredible second-half comeback to beat Olympiakos Piraeus 3-1 in an action-thrilled Europa League night at the San Siro on Thursday.

Gennaro Gattuso’s men fell 1-0 to Pedro Martins’s Greek side through Miguel Guerrero’s 14th minute opener, but the Italians were the strongest in the second half, and changed the complexion of the game with three quick-fire goals in just nine minutes with Patrick Cutrone’s brace and Gonzalo Higuain strike in the 70th, 76th and 79th minutes respectively.

The win puts the Rossoneri on top of Group-F with six points, followed by Real Betis with five, Olympiakos Piraeus with one and Dudelange with zero.
AC Milan had a goal disallowed in the 6th minute when Samu Castillejo was adjudged offside in the lead up to his decent strike.

Leonardo Koutris clipped a neat ball into the box in the direction of Miguel Guerrero, who jumped the highest and steered a bullet header from the centre of the box into the bottom right corner to beat goalkeeper Pepe Reina.

Suso shot wide from close range in the 21st minute, Olympiakos Piraeus’ Guilherme was done by hard luck seconds later as he missed the left post by a whisker after a nice solo move,  seven minutes before Gonzalo Higuain attempted to score from a mid-range free kick, but curled his effort few inches over the crossbar.

Jose Sa pulled off a great save in the 39th minute to deny Gonzalo Higuain’s header, and the Portuguese goalkeeper made little efforts to Suso’s 50th-minute strike towards the middle of the goal.

Gattuso’s men turned the heat on the visitors afterward and would score three goals in quick succession to bring excitement in the otherwise boring and agitated crowd.

Ricardo Rodriguez sent a precise lofted pass into the box in the 70th minute, and Patrick Cutrone canceled Olympiakos’ lead by jumping above the defender to head the ball straight into the right side of the goal.

Hakan Calhanoglu went solo in the 76th minute and squared a pass to Gonzalo Higuain, who beat Jose Sa with a brilliant shot into the bottom left corner.

Patrick Cutrone fires home from very close range in the 79th minute after latching on to a pass from Hakan Calhanoglu.

Fabio Borini received a brilliant pass, three minutes into injury time, but shot narrowly wide, and Hakan Calhanoglu brought down the curtains on the game a minute later by wasting a promising chance as he unleashed a first-time shot from mid-range into the upright.