Serie A | Verona 0-1 Milan: Rabiot puts poor Rossoneri into second

The Adrien Rabiot goal proved just enough for Milan to scrape victory away to rock bottom Verona and go into second place, as Rafael Leao was again disappointing despite his assist.

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The Rossoneri abandoned their 4-3-3 tactical experiment after back-to-back defeats to Napoli and Udinese, so returned to 3-5-2 with under-fire Rafael Leao upfront and Matteo Gabbia back two months after surgery on a sports hernia. Hellas were rock bottom, as Daniel Mosquera and Kieron Bowie joined Suat Serdar. on the treatment table, with Armel Bella-Kotchap and Sandi Lovric only fit for the bench.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Rafael Leao tried to run onto a Christian Pulisic flick over the top in the opening 90 seconds, but Lorenzo Montipò was quick off his line to smother.

Leao and Victor Nelsson accidentally fell on Daniel Oyegoke, leaving the Verona defender with a sprained ankle and forcing an early change.

Adrian Rabiot was the most consistent attacking player for Milan in the first half, his angled drive testing Montipò after a Pulisic back-heel flick and Youssouf Fofana through ball.

Rabiot was decisive to open the scoring, as he won back possession in midfield and immediately ran forward to complete the give and go with Leao, sweeping first-time past the on-rushing Montipò.

Verona nearly equalised with the last kick of the half, as Rafik Belghali sprung the offside trap to go clear on goal, but was denied by a great one-handed Mike Maignan save.

There was some racist abuse before the second half kicked off as Maignan made his way to the goal under the Hellas ultras end, and the protocol activated.

Belghali threatened again with a ferocious strike just wide from distance, but Fofana pulled up clutching the back of his thigh and was substituted along with Rafael Leao, who walked over and muttered something to Max Allegri while covering his mouth.

Another Belghali attempt was deflected wide, and Maignan scrambled across to get his palm to a Ioan Vermesan daisy-cutter, the same player curling just wide with the right foot moments later.

Gabbia had the ball in the net on his comeback with a header at the back post on the Alexis Saelemaekers cross, but it was disallowed for a Santiago Gimenez offside earlier in the move.

Gabbia was decisive at the other end with a desperate block to stop two Verona players bundling the low cross over the line from six yards, throwing himself in their path.

Verona pushed to the end, as Modric had to charge down an Orban strike at the near post, but Milan also had the opportunity to double their lead when Nicolas Valentini performed a goal-line clearance to deny the Saelemaekers rocket from the edge of the area.

Verona 0-1 Milan

Rabiot 41 (M)

19-04-2026 14:00

MatchDay 33

Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi

Verona

Milan

0 - 1

Player statistic

1st half

Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro		24'
		41'		Adrien Rabiot (Assist: Rafael Leão)

2nd half

Moatasem Al-Musrati

85'

Verona

Milan

Starting lineups

1

Lorenzo Montipò

Goalkeeper

5

Andrias Edmundsson

Defender

2

Daniel Oyegoke

Defender

21'

12

Domagoj Bradaric

Defender

46'

6

Nicolás Valentini

Defender

7

Rafik Belghali

Defender

15

Victor Nelsson

Defender

24

Antoine Bernede

Midfielder

82'

11

Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro

Midfielder

64'

63

Roberto Gagliardini

Midfielder

83'

16

Gift Orban

Attacker

16

Mike Maignan

Goalkeeper

33

Davide Bartesaghi

Defender

23

Fikayo Tomori

Defender

46

Matteo Gabbia

Defender

31

Strahinja Pavlovic

Defender

24

Zachary Athekame

Defender

63'

12

Adrien Rabiot

Midfielder

14

Luka Modric

Midfielder

19

Youssouf Fofana

Midfielder

64'

11

Christian Pulisic

Attacker

80'

10

Rafael Leão

Attacker

63'

Substitutes

21

Abdou Harroui

Midfielder

34

Simone Perilli

Goalkeeper

37

Armel Bella-Kotchap

Defender

94

Giacomo Toniolo

Goalkeeper

3

Martin Frese

Defender

72

Junior Ajayi

Attacker

19

Tobias Slotsager

Defender

70

Fallou Cham

Defender

14

Pol Lirola

Defender

21'

90

Ioan Vermesan

Attacker

46'

73

Moatasem Al-Musrati

Midfielder

64'

41

Isaac

Attacker

82'

4

Sandi Lovric

Midfielder

83'

1

Pietro Terracciano

Goalkeeper

5

Koni De Winter

Defender

8

Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Midfielder

2

Pervis Estupiñán

Defender

30

Ardon Jashari

Midfielder

9

Niclas Füllkrug

Attacker

37

Matteo Pittarella

Goalkeeper

27

David Odogu

Defender

56

Alexis Saelemaekers

Midfielder

63'

7

Santiago Giménez

Attacker

63'

4

Samuele Ricci

Midfielder

64'

18

Christopher Nkunku

Attacker

80'