Milan's three-goal cushion nearly vanishes as Atalanta rally late
Adrien Rabiot inspired Milan to a 3-0 lead inside an hour, but a late collapse let Atalanta back into the game before the Rossoneri held on for a 3-2 win at San Siro.
Milan led 3-0 with half an hour left and still needed a nervy finish to see off Atalanta 3-2 at San Siro, according to Football Italia's report on Matchday 7 of Serie A.
Both sides arrived off midweek continental wins. Milan had thrashed RB Salzburg 4-0, with Alphadjo Cisse scoring a hat-trick, while Atalanta beat Pafos 3-1 in the Conference League. Ruben Amorim rotated his squad regardless, resting Cisse, with Matteo Gabbia and Alexis Saelemaekers still unavailable long-term.
Two penalties and a header settle the first hour
Milan's control was built on set-piece precision and a defence in disarray. Atalanta's injury list was already severe before kick-off, with Giacomo Raspadori, Franck Kessie, Giorgio Scalvini, Odilon Kossounou, Isak Hien and Kamaldeen Sulemana all sidelined and Eljif Elmas suspended. It worsened further when Sead Kolasinac went off injured early, forcing a debut for youth team defender Relja Obric.
Obric's introduction proved costly. His handball on a Yunus Musah strike gave away a penalty, converted by Goncalo Ramos down the middle after sending Marco Carnesecchi the wrong way. Milan's second goal followed a slicker pattern: Diego Moreira's pass sent Rabiot through, and he drilled the ball between Obric's legs for his fourth goal involvement in as many league games.
The third goal again traced back to a set piece. Rabiot's ferocious volley was blocked by Thomas Kristensen's arm for a second penalty, but this time Carnesecchi guessed correctly and saved Ramos' effort. Milan still profited from the resulting corner, as Rabiot's flick found Mario Gila for a close-range header — his first Serie A goal since 2024.
A three-goal lead becomes a two-goal scare
What happened next is the more instructive part of the afternoon. Atalanta had barely threatened in an hour of football, but Nikola Krstovic's shot cannoning off the post in the 63rd minute signalled a shift. Within minutes Gianluca Gaetano finished from a tight angle off a Krstovic lay-off, and shortly after Raoul Bellanova's run down the right set up Krstovic to sweep home Atalanta's second.
The sequence matters more than the scoreline suggests. Milan had been comfortable enough to control possession and pick their moments for over an hour; the goals conceded came from transitions Atalanta generated with fresh legs and directness rather than sustained pressure. That distinction is worth separating from the raw 3-2 reading of the match — this was not a tactical unravelling built on a flaw Atalanta had identified, but a concentration lapse once the game looked settled.
Mike Maignan's save from Davide Zappacosta, rushing off his line to block a one-on-one near the near post, was the moment that prevented a third Atalanta goal and a genuine equaliser threat. Carnesecchi was equally busy at the other end, denying Ardon Jashari's low drive, while Goncalo Ramos saw a stoppage-time counter-attack snuffed out.
What the rotation and the fightback reveal
Amorim's decision to rest Cisse after a hat-trick, with Milan already missing Gabbia and Saelemaekers, is the kind of squad management top-half sides must navigate across a congested October. The result vindicated the approach in outcome, but the manner of the closing stages — switching off at 3-0 against a team missing six first-team players to injury or suspension plus a suspended regular — is a pattern worth tracking if Milan face stronger opposition with a similar lead.
For Atalanta, the collapse of their first hour against the strength of their final half-hour tells its own story. A side reduced to fielding a debutant teenage defender after losing Kolasinac still generated two goals and a near-equaliser through Krstovic and Gaetano, suggesting the attacking players available to Ivan Juric retain quality even when the defensive cover has been stripped bare.
Milan's win keeps them competitive at the top of Serie A, but the final half-hour offers a clearer diagnostic than the scoreline: a team capable of dominating for an hour still has work to do on seeing out matches once the lead looks secured.