AC Milan qualified for the Europa League after an epic penalty shootout against Rio Ave on October 1, 2020.
-
Luis Vieira / AP / SIPA
AC Milan got scared!
The Milan club almost fell by the wayside, Thursday night, in the Europa League play-off.
It took a penalty in the very last moments of extra time, transformed by Hakan Calhanoglu, and then an epic penalty shootout to defeat Rio Ave.
PENALTY SHOOT-OUT
Rio Ave: ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽❌⚽❌❌❌ # ACMilan: ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽❌⚽❌❌⚽ @ gigiodonna1 !! # RioAveMilan 2-2 # SempreMilan # UEL
- AC Milan (@acmilan) October 1, 2020
A total of 24 shots on goal were indeed struck, for a final victory 9-8 at the end of the night.
The deliverance came from a final stop by goalkeeper Gigi Donnarumma.
Who said you could go to bed before watching this ⤵️
Qualcuno pensava di andare a dormire senza rivedersi la serie 🅘🅝🅕🅘🅝🅘🅣🅐 dei calci di rigore?
⤵️ # RioAveMilan #UEL #SemperMilan pic.twitter.com/TDJABBrFzV
- AC Milan (@acmilan) October 1, 2020
In the previous round already, against the modest Norwegian team Glimt, the 5th in Serie A had come very close to elimination (3-2).
Still in the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, placed in quarantine for having tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Milanese return to European competition, after their disqualification from the Europa League last year for failure to respect financial fair play.
The draw for the group stage takes place this Friday noon.
This leaves little time for the Italian media to recover ...
Editorial from the #Gazzetta: "We thought we had seen it all and we were wrong: a match won after 24 penalties was missing from our collection. An endless, grueling and exhausting session. A novel that will go down in history."
#Milan https://t.co/GTqdVGkV9v
- GuillaumeMP (@Guillaumemp) October 2, 2020
Sport
Europa League: Should Losc really play Europe fully this season?
Sport
Europa League: Reims eliminated in the 3rd qualifying round by the Hungarians of Fehervar
Soccer
Europa League
Sport
AC Milan