Mbangula Hat-Trick Sinks Milan in Bologna Comeback

How does a side holding 66% of the ball lose 4–2 at home? AC Milan will spend the days before the derby searching for an answer after Bologna overturned a 2–1 half-time deficit at San Siro. The win was driven by a hat-trick from Samuel-Germain Mbangula on his first Serie A start for the club.

The defeat was Ruben Amorim's first in Serie A as Milan head coach. It ended an eight-game unbeaten league run and the club's perfect home record in the competition. Milan had won the previous two meetings between the sides, but Bologna's reward this time was a first Serie A away win over them at San Siro in 10 years.

It also put Raffaele Palladino in rare company. He is only the third coach in Bologna's history, and the first since György Sárosi in 1957, to win each of his first three Serie A away matches in charge of the club.

Mbangula strikes first before Cissè answers twice

The warning came early. Yunus Musah was dispossessed in midfield on eight minutes, and Nadir Zortea raced to the right by-line to cut a low cross back. Mbangula swept a first-time right-footed finish into the bottom corner from nine yards without a defender near him.

Milan's response was quick and built on pressure. On 14 minutes Omari Hutchinson hounded Arthur Theate into a mishit clearance across his own box, and Alphadjo Cissè pounced on the loose ball to beat Lukasz Skorupski from close range.

The lead arrived on 27 minutes. Fikayo Tomori overlapped onto a loose ball on the right of the area and drilled a low cross to the back post, where Cissè stuck out a boot to volley in from five yards.

They were Cissè's first goals at San Siro in a Milan shirt, and they take him to four in the league this season from seven appearances. Tomori, though, did not return after the interval. He was replaced at half-time with a knock, another blow for a squad already missing nine players, among them Adrien Rabiot, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Matteo Gabbia and Samuel Chukwueze.

Miranda's arrival flips the game in two minutes

The turning point came from Palladino's bench. On the hour, substitute Juan Miranda whipped an inswinging free-kick from the left towards the far post, and Davide Bartesaghi deflected the ball into his own net for 2–2.

Two minutes later Bologna led. Miranda charged down the left again and crossed low for Mbangula, whose first touch pulled the ball away from two defenders before he rifled it into the top-left corner.

That third goal is where Milan's fury was aimed. The counter-attack began with an unpenalised challenge on Luka Modrić in midfield. Milan protested strongly, but referee Juan Luca Sacchi waved play on and the VAR saw no clear grounds to step in.

The Italian press called it a sudden and heavy collapse and judged that Amorim had been thoroughly outmanoeuvred by Palladino's second-half substitutions. Miranda's two deliveries in quick succession are the clearest evidence for that verdict.

Mbangula completes his hat-trick as San Siro empties

The last word was Mbangula's. On 86 minutes Jens Odgaard led a counter-attack down the right and squared across the penalty area. Mbangula held his run behind the ball and slotted home to complete a hat-trick that also brought his first goals for Bologna since joining the club.

Many home supporters left straight afterwards, leaving visible empty patches in the stands before full-time. Those who stayed whistled and jeered the team and the coach at the final whistle, with club owner Gerry Cardinale watching on.

The numbers describe the evening without excusing it. Milan had 66% of the ball yet managed only three shots on target from eight attempts, while Bologna, with 34%, put five of their nine on target. Control of the ball meant little when every turnover opened the pitch.

Captain Mike Maignan's assessment was blunt: "Right now, when we lose the ball, we know we are vulnerable because we leave space for our opponents to counterattack."

Amorim's Milan stagger towards the derby

Milan stay fifth on 18 points, but the mood has changed. This was a second defeat in three matches across all competitions, following the Europa League loss at Bournemouth. It leaves them seven points behind Inter and Lazio with the Derby della Madonnina on Saturday.

Commentators pointed to a squad that looks physically exhausted and unbalanced once regulars are rotated, singling out Koni De Winter and Strahinja Pavlović as defensively fragile. The 3–2 win over Atalanta had already shown how quickly a commanding position can unravel. This time there was nothing left to hold on to.

Goals are not the issue. Milan have scored in each of their last nine league games, 18 in total. Conceding four at home three days before facing Inter, however, is the kind of evening that defines a week. Amorim now has to find answers on the run.

Bologna, 11th on 11 points, leave with far more than three points. They have scored in five straight league games, ten goals in that spell, and in Mbangula they may have found the forward to turn a patchy campaign into something sharper.