Alvaro Morata came back to haunt his former club as AC Milan heaped more misery on Real Madrid with a 3-1 UEFA Champions League win at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Less than two weeks after their 4-0 humiliation by Barcelona, Carlo Ancelotti’s men showed they had learned little as dismal defending handed the Italians a valuable victory.
And inevitably it was Real’s former homegrown star Morata who played the starring role, lashing home in the 39th minute to help secure a win that leaves the 15-time European champions languishing well outside the top 10 in the league standings.
Things might have been different had Kylian Mbappe not spurned a catalogue of chances but ultimately it was alarming sluggishness in the Real back-line that made it a night to remember for Milan and their head coach Paulo Fonseca.
Mbappe had already missed twice before Milan scored the opener in the 12th minute, Malick Thiaw out-jumping a static home rearguard to meet Christian Pulisic’s corner and steer it past Real keeper Andriy Lunin to give his side the lead.
Mbappe came close to grabbing an immediate equaliser when he was denied by Mike Maignan, but it arrived in the 23rd minute when Vinicius Junior fell under the clumsy challenge of Emerson Royal and the Brazilian stepped up to deliver a penalty straight down the middle and settle the home side’s nerves.
Milan continued to counter-attack with confidence, and Real’s recent failings resurfaced shortly before half-time as Aurelien Tchouameni carelessly gave the ball away to Pulisic close to the halfway line.
A neat one-two sent the dangerous Rafael Leao scampering down the right and after his initial effort was parried by Lunin, Morata reacted quickest to spring into the box and jab home the rebound while the flat-footed home defenders looked on.
Mbappe continued his game efforts up front, bringing another fine save from Maignan on the end of a swift counter-attack just before the interval then failing to hit the target with two more opportunities at the start of the second period.
Vinicius was booked for diving on 73 minutes and moments later Milan extended their lead, Leao once again afforded space on the right and crossing to Tijjani Reijnders, all alone close to the penalty spot, who duly fired home his side’s third.
Ancelotti threw on Rodrygo in place of the ineffective Jude Bellingham and Real briefly thought they had narrowed the deficit when Antonio Rudiger provided an excellent finish from the left side of the box, only to see it ruled out by VAR for a marginal offside in the build-up.
Milan should have made it four in the dying minutes as Ruben Loftus-Cheek directed a poor shot straight at Lunin, but it was Vinicius who summed up another woeful night for Real when he shot wide from the edge of the six-yard box.
