ENDING THE SEASON WITH A WIN
Serie A
We need to start from the finish, with Zlatan Ibrahimović. AC Milan wish to thank him and bid him the fondest of farewells. Ibra calls time on his second spell with the Rossoneri with a total of 163 appearances, 93 goals and 35 assists. It's partly down to his return that we got back to the Champions League, won Serie A and have competed on all fronts. As a player and as a man, he is an extraordinary human being, who has made history and will go down in history. One of us, AlwaIZ. The fans showed an incredible amount of affection for him as San Siro gave him a richly deserved standing ovation.
On the pitch, the Rossoneri signed off in 2022/23 with a 3-1 win over Hellas Verona. Giroud scored a penalty on the stroke of half time and Leão bagged a brace in the second half after Faraoni had levelled the scoreline. Fouth place, 70 points and 64 goals scored: this is our final standings. The team have come through a tricky season; it was up and down but satisfactory in the end as we qualified for the Champions League again - hopefully, we can have another good run in that competition. Trophyless but milestones have been hit, which have seen us grow and develop. It's now time to take a break before we go again with renewed motivation and new aims. See you soon, AC Milan fans.
CHECK OUT THE GALLERY FROM AC MILAN v HELLAS VERONA
MATCH REPORT
Pioli chose the same starting eleven as he did against Torino. Wearing their new home shirt, AC Milan started off on the front foot, keeping possession and creating some early chances. After six minutes, Leão’s effort inside the box went over, after taking a deflection; three minutes later, Messias’ shot from distance went just wide, before Calabria throttled one off target from the edge of the area after 13 minutes. After a lull in the game, another Messias moment nearly found the opener, but again his attempt was deflected behind to frustrate the home side. Verona were rarely a threat but on the half-hour mark quickly broke on the counter, but failed to take their opportunity. In a mad end to the half, a cross come shot from Hernández failed to find anyone in the box, before the opening goal two minutes into stoppage-time: Díaz got to the ball ahead of Ngonge, who hooked the Spaniard down and the referee pointed to the spot, thanks to a VAR check. From the spot, Giroud perfectly placed the ball past Montipò, sending him the wrong way. 1-0 at the break.
Hernández had a chance immediately after the restart, but chose to square across the box instead of shooting, and the ball was hooked away. Then, Hellas grew into the game, creating more goal-scoring opportunities: Tameze shot just over after 52 minutes, before Veloso failed to hit the target after 56 minutes. There was a scare a minute later when Maignan came rushing out of his box to just win the ball ahead of Ngonge, after a long ball through, and just after the hour mark, Ngonge tried again without success. But the Gialloblù did eventually equalise on 72 minutes: Depaoli’s throw-in found Lazović, who crossed for Faraoni to head home at the far post under the crossbar. The Rossoneri responded and Leão’s attempt was "saved" by the arm of Faraoni, but Valeri waved play on. From the responding corner, Giroud’s spin and header was too weak. Then, a fired up Leão scored a brace to seal the game: five minutes before time – set up by Tomori – he found the bottom-right corner and then two minutes into injury-time – linking up well with Saelemaekers – ran the length of the pitch, got past Montipò and put it into an empty goal. Final whistle: 3-1.
MATCH DETAILS
AC MILAN 3-1 HELLAS VERONA
AC MILAN (4-2-3-1): Maignan (89' Mirante); Calabria (84' Florenzi), Thiaw, Tomori, Hernández; Tonali, Krunić (71' Pobega); Messias (84' Saelemaekers), Díaz (71' De Ketelaere), Leão; Giroud. Subs: Tătăruşanu; Ballo-Touré, Gabbia, Kalulu, Kjær; Adli, Bakayoko, Vranckx; Origi. Coach: Pioli.
HELLAS VERONA (3-4-2-1): Montipò; Magnani, Hien, Cabal (85' Dawidowicz); Faraoni, Veloso (59' Lazović), Sulemana (85' Abildgaard), Depaoli; Tameze, Ngonge (78' Gaich); Djurić (59' Verdi). Subs: Berardi, Perilli; Ceccherini, Coppola, Doig, Zeefuik; Hrustic, Terracciano; Braaf, Kallon. Coach: Zaffaroni.
Referee: Valeri from Roma.
Goals: 47' pen. Giroud (M), 72' Faraoni (HV), 85' and 92' Leão (M).
Booked: 49' Magnani (HV), 60' Sulemana (HV), 61' Cabal (HV), 77' Depaoli (HV), 89' Hernández (M).
Sent off: 62' Bocchetti (HV) from the bench for protests.
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