Leao sinks Girona and pushes Milan into Champions League top eight

Rafael Leao boosted AC Milan’s chances of direct qualification to the last 16 of the Champions League with a brilliant goal in Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Girona.

Portugal winger Leao lashed in his eighth goal of the season after some dazzling dribbling in the 37th minute at the San Siro to give Milan their fifth straight win in the competition.

Sergio Conceicao’s team are sixth on 15 points after seven matches and are guaranteed at least a spot in the play-offs, as well as having a great chance of a top-eight finish with their final league phase fixture at Dinamo Zagreb.

Girona’s maiden Champions League campaign will go no further than the visit of Arsenal next week as Michel’s team are seven points from the play-offs and as a result eliminated.

La Liga outfit Girona would have come away from northern Italy with more had it not been for Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan, who pulled off three superb saves late in the first half to keep the hosts ahead.

Conceicao demanded more hunger from his players after Milan slumped to defeat at rivals Juventus at the weekend, and the Serie A team dominated the early stages even as frustrated fans again chanted for American owners RedBird to sell the club.

The hosts should have already been ahead before the 24th minute, when Theo Hernandez somehow didn’t score after being laid on for a sitter by Leao.

Maignan to rescue

Leao was sent surging behind the Girona defence by a brilliant Tijjani Reijnders pass and rolled across a perfect low ball to Hernandez, who scuffed his finish onto the bar.

Yunus Musah, who should have scored an early chance, then crashed a low shot off the upright five minutes later as Milan pressed for an opener.

Maignan had to be at his best to stop Girona taking a shock lead twice in a few minutes, the France goalkeeper sticking out a leg to stop Donny van de Beek after the Dutch midfielder and keeping out Viktor Tsygankov’s snapshot.

The grumbles beginning to be heard around the San Siro soon turned into cheers after a moment of magic from Leao, who collected Ismael Bennacer’s pass, cut onto his right before quickly switching back to his trusty left foot which he then used to roof a perfect finish.

But Milan only led at the break thanks to Maignan, who again saved his disjointed defence deep in stoppage time by getting his studs to Yangel Herrera’s close-range strike.

The second was much lower key, with Bryan Gil’s fizzing strike for Girona ruled out for a razor-thin offside being the only real incident of a match which ended with Conceicao’s first Champions League win as Milan coach.