AC Milan claimed their first Europa League win of the season in emphatic fashion on Thursday, Alphadjo Cissé scoring a hat-trick in a 4-0 victory at Salzburg that ended the Austrian side's 15-match unbeaten run.
Cissé headed Milan in front on 15 minutes, doubled the lead on 32 and completed his treble four minutes after half-time, before substitute Goncalo Ramos added a fourth on 72 minutes. Milan finished with ten men after Filippo Terracciano was shown a straight red card on 83 minutes, but by then the contest at the Red Bull Arena was long settled. The full timeline is recorded on the LiveScore match page.
Cissé strikes twice before the break
Milan arrived in Austria under pressure. Ruben Amorim's side had lost their opening league-phase game 2-0 at home to Benfica and had won only once in five competitive matches, yet they played with a freedom that Salzburg never matched. The opener came from a flowing move: Adrien Rabiot released Omari Hutchinson down the right and his cross was headed in by Cissé.
Salzburg briefly threatened an equaliser, Bartosz Mazurek firing narrowly wide of Mike Maignan's post, but their defending unravelled again on 32 minutes. Rabiot found Davide Bartesaghi at the back post and the left-back squared for Cissé to tap in his second. Hutchinson and Valentin Zabransky both went into the book in a first half that ended with the visitors firmly in control, as the live coverage on SempreMilan recorded.
Hat-trick hero, then a red card
Any Salzburg hope of a comeback died on 49 minutes. Ruben Loftus-Cheek drove through midfield and fed Rabiot, whose pass put Cissé in to finish calmly and complete a hat-trick that underlined his growing reputation. Amorim withdrew his hero on the hour, sending on Christian Pulisic, Luka Modric and Ramos in a triple change that kept Milan's tempo high.
Ramos made it 4-0 on 72 minutes from Ardon Jashari's assist, before the one blemish on Milan's night: Terracciano, on for Fikayo Tomori, was dismissed with a straight red card on 83 minutes. Salzburg, unbeaten in 15 and winners of their first six home games this season under Danny Röhl, could not even find a consolation.
So what does it mean?
Milan move onto three points, level with Salzburg, and the manner of the win matters as much as the points: a side fifth in Serie A, and linked this month with a January loan move for Endrick, suddenly has a young match-winner to build around. Salzburg's long unbeaten run is over and their perfect home record with it, while the wider Italian picture — examined in our analysis of Napoli's European problems under Allegri — suggests Milan, not Napoli, may be Serie A's most dangerous side in Europe this autumn. History repeated itself too: Milan also won 4-0 on their last visit to Salzburg, in November 2022.
Beyond the Final Whistle: This was a statement win built on trust in youth. Amorim handed Cissé the stage on a night when Milan could easily have played safe, and the youngster repaid him with a hat-trick at a ground where nobody wins easily. One result does not fix Milan's season, but a 4-0 away win in Europe, with ten men at the end, is the kind of night that changes a dressing room's belief.
Is Cissé now undroppable for Milan, or should Amorim keep rotating his young forward? Let us know in the comments.
