Milan and Benfica met at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in the UEFA Europa League league phase, and the shape of the match explained the scoreline far better than the bare numbers do. Benfica turned the tie around and left Milan to chase the game for the best part of the second half. The turning point came at the 16 minute mark, when Dodi Lukébakio scored cleanly, and everything that followed was played in that new landscape. Benfica won 2-0 and carried the points home. 68393 supporters filled Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, and the noise never really left the players alone. Neither side arrived in the best form: the last five results read W W W D D for Milan and W W W W W for Benfica, and both sets of players knew what a slip would cost.
Match facts
- Date: 16.09.2026
- Kick-off: 19:00 UTC
- Venue: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milano, Italy (75817)
- Attendance: 68393
- Referee: Jarred Gillett (Australia)
- Competition: UEFA Europa League 2026/2027 – Matchday 1
- Starting line-ups: Milan (3-4-2-1, Coach: Ruben Amorim) / Benfica (4-2-3-1, Coach: Marco Silva)
- Scorers: Dodi Lukébakio 16′ (Benfica); Jakub Kamiński 53′ (Benfica)
Milan lined up with Mike Maignan, Filippo Terracciano, Koni De Winter, Strahinja Pavlović, Samuel Chukwueze, Ardon Jashari, Yunus Musah, Davide Bartesaghi, Omari Hutchinson, Alphadjo Cissè, Gonçalo Ramos in a 3-4-2-1, while Benfica answered with Anatoliy Trubin, Daniel Banjaqui, Alessandro Circati, Tomás Araújo, Souffian El Karouani, Fredrik Aursnes, João Palhinha, Dodi Lukébakio, Georgiy Sudakov, Jakub Kamiński, Jhon Durán in a 4-2-3-1. Ruben Amorim and Marco Silva led their respective sides from the touchline, and both had a plan for the first hour that they wanted to keep intact.
Goals and key moments
Goal details, minutes and scorers are the part of the record that separate one evening from another. At the 16 minute mark, Dodi Lukébakio scored cleanly, with Jakub Kamiński supplying the pass that made it possible, and 0-1 was the consequence. It was a chance worth 0.03 expected goals, which is exactly why it was worth taking. That strike changed the temperature of the evening: from that point Benfica could play for the counter while Milan had to take risks in the spaces that had opened up. 53′: Jakub Kamiński scored cleanly, Souffian El Karouani helping it over the line, and it was 0-2 almost immediately. The chance itself carried 0.17 expected goals of weight, and the goalkeeper had no answer to it. Not every opening was taken, though, and the chances that were missed told their own story. Taken together, the goals gave the evening a shape that the scoreline on its own never explained.
The tactical picture
Milan started in 3-4-2-1 under Ruben Amorim, while Benfica answered with 4-2-3-1 under Marco Silva, and those two shapes decided most of what happened on the field. The midfield was the part of the pitch both sides wanted, and the numbers show who managed to take it. Neither manager was willing to hand the central ground over for free, and the shape of the game followed that refusal. Benfica’s 4-2-3-1 was the sharper of the two systems, and Milan’s 3-4-2-1 spent longer than they should have without the ball. Benfica pressed high and won the second ball, which left Milan unable to build from the back and forced them into hopeful passes. The width of the pitch worked against Milan, who kept trying to attack down the same flank and were closed down every time. Transitions were the story: Benfica moved the ball forward at speed, Milan could not. The tactical conversation between the two benches was as much a part of the evening as the movement of the ball itself.
Statistical comparison
The statistical picture is as revealing as the scoreline itself. Expected goals told the sharper story: 1.03 for Milan, 0.63 for Benfica. Milan attempted 17 shots to Benfica’s 11, with 4 on target against 4. Possession finished at 60 per cent for Milan against 40 per cent for Benfica, and it is worth noting which side actually used it. The numbers that decide matches rarely tell the whole story, but they narrow the argument down to a very small area. Milan won 10 corners to Benfica’s 1, and that is where most of the set-piece danger came from. Milan completed 521 of 570 passes against 324 of 381 for Benfica, a difference that shows how differently the two sides circulated the ball. Fouls were committed 14 times by Milan and 12 by Benfica, with 0 and 0 red cards in the official count. The goalkeepers made 2 and 4 saves respectively, and on a night like this that work decides how the result is remembered. The duels went 39 to 56, which is usually the cleanest single indicator of who was prepared to spend effort on the ball. Tackles were completed 9 times by Milan and 23 by Benfica, and the duels that followed tell the same story as the rest of the evening. Milan managed 9 shots from inside the penalty area compared with 5 for Benfica, which is the clearest single indicator of where the game was actually played.
Discipline and substitutions
Discipline and substitutions shaped the second half more than the scoreline suggests. Milan collected 1 yellow cards and Benfica 5, with Strahinja Pavlović (11′), Souffian El Karouani (26′), Jhon Durán (37′) among the bookings. The caution count of 6 in total meant the referee had to manage a game that was becoming increasingly physical around the halfway line. Both coaches used their changes: 5 by Milan and 5 by Benfica, with the last substitution of the evening coming at the 88 minute mark. The emotional temperature of the evening rose and fell with the challenges and with the decisions taken by both benches. Jarred Gillett took charge of the match and kept a close eye on a game that grew untidy in the middle third.
Player of the match and the standout performers
Individual performances separated the two teams across a full ninety minutes. Anatoliy Trubin of Benfica was the player of the match with a rating of 8.6, and every touch that mattered carried his name on it. For Milan, the best individual rating belonged to Samuel Chukwueze (7.6). For Benfica, the best individual rating belonged to Anatoliy Trubin (8.61). The gap between the best performances on each side was the reason the result never really looked as comfortable as it was. The goalkeeping was worth a mention too: Mike Maignan made 2 saves for Milan, and Anatoliy Trubin made 4 for Benfica. Across the two squads the highest individual ratings read Samuel Chukwueze (7.6), Mario Gila (7.03), Anatoliy Trubin (8.61), Jakub Kamiński (8.58).
What the result means for the league phase
Milan on 0 points from 1 match, in 30th place with a goal difference of -2 and Benfica on 3 points from 1 match, in 8th place with a goal difference of +2. Milan arrived with W W W D D in their last five and Benfica with W W W W W, so the result fits the run both of them have been on. For Benfica this is the result the league phase was built for, and it leaves them in a much healthier position; Milan will need to respond quickly. What the numbers cannot show is how hard the result was worked for, and how differently the two sides will remember it. The next round of the league phase will tell more: whoever adjusts first in the coming days will be the one who controls the group.