With Milan who wants to avoid their first finish under the sixth in nine years and Bologna who chased a UEFA Champions League-Encore, this was more than just an adjustment for the threatening Coppa Italia final.
There was no shortage of physical part of both sides, but unfortunately for Fikayo Tomori he was only 12 minutes before he was withdrawn due to a head injury in an attempted challenge on Benjamin Dominguez.
Coincidentally, it was the Argentinian who took the first dangerous shot of the game on goal, while he poked the palms of Mike Maignan remotely with a low, Rasping Drive in possession of a turnover.
That apart from, however, there was little in the way of coherent play or clear opportunities, although Bologna demonstrated the first half in terms of threat, with Riccardo Orsolini shot over the bar of the criestous Tommaso Pobega of Milan Tommaso Pobega's square ball.
Never victoriously in 11 previous personal H2HS vs Milan, Orsolini had a whole break to think about that miss. But he channeled every frustration to devastating effect only four minutes after the restart, with a long ball that Thijs Dallinga saw jumping a header past the right flank on the path of Orsolini, and he had enough time to control the ball and to fire low in the far corner.
A reaction from the Rossoneri was of course inevitable, and after a triple change for Bologna, Theo Hernandez saw a promising mirror effort of Orsolini's goal thwarted by Lukasz Skorupski. It was then that Sergio Conceição chose to respond in kind to Bologna's fluent from switches, its own fresh trio, including attacking duo Samuel Chukwueze and Santiago Gimenez.
With Milan now rejuvenated, it was the last to have an near-instant impact, because a turnover in possession led a liquid team for the equalizer.
A turnover in possession enabled João Félix to go through the lines, and although his attempted square to Giménez was blocked by Jhon Lucumí, the ball returned to the path of Christian Pulisic, and he played in the unmarked Giménez, which they Skorupski's legs.
The Mexican then seemed to have temporarily completed the turnaround barely two minutes later, when he lobed Skorupski from a direct ball, but immediately saw the flag rise.
However, it did not matter at 79 minutes, because Pulisic Goalscorer changed to grab the points for Milan.
Again, sloppy defending was to undo Bologna, as a long ball from Melettan along the left flank, Chukwueze saw skillfully drip along Charalampos Lykogiannis dripping.
From there he fed the ball to Felix, and although the attempt by the Portuguese attacker was blocked by Sam Beukema, it fell to the sad Pulisic, who shot in to break the remains of Bologna's weak resistance. And with a well -dressed third goal deep in added time of Gimenez (assisted by Chukwueze), which proved decisive in expanding what was already a competition -high points that was recovered from losing positions (22).
Despite their shaky start, Milan was finally worthy winners, with their business helped by an incredible show of courageous tactical intelligence. The result is potentially seismic in their hope in Europe, and although Bologna is still above them in the table, they will not have an illusion about how much a chance was missed.
Losing a first competition doubles in 85 years is the least of their short-term problems, and they can only watch the top-four chasing teams above them this weekend and pray for favorable results.
Flash score Man of the match: Santiago Gimenez (AC Milan)
View all match statistics with flash score.
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