What the Italian press had to say about AC Milan's come-from-behind victory over Celtic

How the Italian newspapers saw the match after Neil Lennon’s men were defeated 4-2 in the Europa League

AC Milan's Spanish midfielder Brahim Diaz scores past Celtic's Greek goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas. Picture: Getty

Milan were expected to make quick work of their Scottish opponents. After all, they’d defeated them 3-1 in Glasgow and Celtic’s recent form has been alarmingly poor. As La Repubblica put it: “Released from the League Cup by the modest Ross County, the prestigious club does not rise again in Europe, far from the times of the [1972] Champions League semi-final with Inter played under these stands.”

Gazzetta dello Sport described the away side as “Celtic in a crisis of nerves and identity, overwhelmed by criticism, controversy and rumours that Lennon is one step away from exemption”.

However, things didn’t go as expected. Celtic were excellent in the opening 15 minutes, scoring twice through Tom Rogic and Odsonne Edouard and looking well in control of proceedings as they retained a degree of menace every time they attacked. Gazzetta dello Sport said the match as “undoubtedly a bit more complicated than expected”, while II Gazzettino called the Seria A leaders “unrecognisable in the first 15”. La Repubblica even cited it as an example of how “football proves to be the strangest sport in the world”.

Although, most publications pointed the finger of blame at mistakes in the Milanese back-line rather than give credit for Celtic’s ingenuity. Gazzetta dubbed it “an ugly gallery of defensive horrors in which unfortunately you can see a bit of everything”.

The status quo would soon be resumed. Hakan Calhanoglu netted from a free-kick after Ryan Christie was cautioned for a foul just outside the area. As Corriere dello Sport would note, only Lionel Messi has netted more direct free-kick goals since 2013/14 than the Turkish specialist and he duly fooled Vasilis Barkas to cut the arrears.

At this point, Celtic “melted like snow in the sun”, as La Repubblica put it, noting “Lennon shakes his head from the outside, too soft and poorly shielded the defensive line of the Bhoys”. Samu Castillejo netted a second just two minutes later and it would be only two minutes after the restart where the visitors’ “incredible fragility” helped to put them 3-2 down thanks to a strike from Jens Petter Hauge.

Lennon’s men, however, refused to go away quietly and made life tough for Milan at points in the second half. Both La Repubblica and Gazzetta credited Jeremie Frimpong with helping to keep the visitors in the game. The former described him as “animating” the near-comeback, while the latter called the speedster “inexhaustible” and a thorn constantly stuck in the left side of the Devil [Milan]”. They did also blame the hosts for being troubled, saying they made “the mistake of holing up a bit too much”.

Hauge would help kill the game off, slipping in Brahim Diaz to net Milan’s fourth. The Norwegian’s influential role in the full-time result inspired this wonderfully odd intro in La Repubblica: “A Nordic fairy tale, like Frozen, but for men, for Milan promoted with one round to spare into the round of 32 of the Europa League. There is no Princess Elsa in the football pre-Christmas film, but a blond boy from the far north.”

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