AC Milan ended their preseason tour of the United States with a 2-2 draw against FC Barcelona in Baltimore in what was very much a game of two halves.
Milan raced out to a fast start with goals from Luka Jovic and Christian Pulisic, but Robert Lewandowski responded quickly and got another goal in the second half to draw Barca level. The game went to penalties, and Lorenzo Torriani was the hero making three saves.
Paulo Fonseca named the strongest line-up of preseason yet and all eyes were on the attacking trident of Samuel Chukwueze, Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao – who was named the captain for the game – behind Luka Jovic.
It was Milan who took the lead in the 10th minute of the game, and it was quite a straightforward move in the end that broke the deadlock. Yunus Musah surged down the right unopposed for 50 yards, finding Samuel Chukwueze who slid Christian Pulisic in behind, with his cut-back buried from close range by Luka Jovic at the far post.
Barcelona were generating dangerous scoring chances of their own though, and there were a couple of heroic blocks inside the box from Alexis Saelemaekers – who played at right-back – and Malick Thiaw.
Six minutes after the opening goal, the Rossoneri made it 2-0 as Pulisic turned from provider to scorer. This time the move came down the left side, with Rafael Leao’s perfectly weighted through ball finding the American who finished past Ter Stegen from a narrow angle.
The goals continued to flow as Barcelona got themselves back into the contest in the 22nd minute. Robert Lewandowksi was given time and space to pick his spot from around 20 yards out, and he curled a low shot inside the bottom corner.
Lorenzo Torriani was entrusted in goal and he made three vital interventions in the first half alone, denying Raphinha with his left boot, then the same man again a few minutes later before scrambling away a Lewandowski header at the back stick.
Pau Victor thought he had equalised for Barcelona into added time at the end of the first 45, but the offside flag rightly went up. At the other end Leao’s incredible run got him to the byline yet Ter Stegen was able to claim.
Fonseca opted to make two changes at the break with Leao and Jovic the ones to make way for Davide Calabria and Ismael Bennacer. Without a recognised striker, it marked the switch to a more fluid front four.
Barcelona had a period of pressure early in the second half and in truth it felt like their equaliser had been coming when it did arrive. A ball from Raphinha found Pau Victor who squared for Lewandowski to get his second of the night.
Just after the hour mark Yacine Adli and Noah Okafor came on for Pulisic and Musah, with the USA internationals rather expectedly given a warm reception by the Baltimore crowd.
After the game had descended into a bit of a lull, Alex Jimenez, Matteo Gabbia, Hugo Cuenca, Pierre Kalulu and Kevin Zeroli were also brought on.
The second half performance might have disappointed Fonseca as Milan struggled to hold onto the ball and the majority of the action was in their own half, though Torriani was nowhere near as busy.
The penalty shootout was a rollercoaster affair like the game, with Bennacer and Kounde both missing, before Calabria and Okafor scored to put Milan 2-0 up.
Kalulu missed and Fernandez levelled it up, then Adli and Vitor Roque converted to take it to sudden death. Zeroli scored and Torriani thwarted Faye to ensure the Rossoneri won the shootout 4-3.
