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

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Skip to contentVERONA, ITALY – APRIL 19: Adrien Rabiot of AC Milan celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammate Rafael Leao during the Serie A match between Hellas Verona FC and AC Milan at Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi on April 19, 2026 in Verona, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

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 BentegodiVeronaMilan

Live0 – 1

Player statistic

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′

BySusy Campanale

Original Article