Milan 2, Venezia 0: That Newly Promoted Stupor

Friday night, Milan fell into their usual sluggish, brutal grind as they took on newly promoted Venezia at the San Siro. While they managed to pull off the 2-0 win over the visitors, it was more like a trip to the dentist than the attacking, high pressing, enjoyable football we saw in the opening win away to Torino. Perhaps everyone was still choked up from the emotional Baresi tribute just ahead of the match. I don't play well with tears in my eyes, either. Or maybe they were stunned by the fact that for the first time in nearly two years, the Curva Sud were allowed to have banners and flags again. But more than likely, as I mentioned in the preview, they fell prey to Venezia's excellent defense and their hunger in attack, and fell into that newly promoted stupor.

Ramos scored the breakthrough goal that woke Milan out of their stupor.

Milan-Venezia Preview: Testing the Waters

Amorim's Milan passed their first test on Sunday, winning 2-1 away to Torino. But Friday night, they will be facing what is perhaps a bigger test: facing the newly promoted Venezia at the San Siro. Sure, Abate's Torino were probably a better team on paper, but Milan have such a history of struggling against the newly promoted or lower table sides, even before Allegri. Plus, after two years of failing to qualify for Champions League, they will be facing their own fans, who may actually be worse than a stadium full of opposition fans when things start to go poorly. So, even if they are facing Venezia on dry land, facing these additional challenges, they will still be testing the waters.

With reasonably positive preseason performances, Milan will want to continue the good vibes.

Milan Primavera 3, Torino Primavera 2: All Three Points

Milan Primavera got their season off the right way when they hosted Torino Primavera on Monday. Despite going up twice, Torino kept equalizing. Even going down to ten men with five minutes left could not stop Renna's boys, they fought back late in stoppage time for the 3-2 victory over Torino and took all three points.

Edoardo Zanaga celebrates scoring the 2nd goal vs. Torino.

Torino 1, Milan 2: Winning Intentionally

After a full year of Allegri's constipated anti-football where his philosophy was to play not to lose, this match was refreshing in that Milan played with intent, they were determined, and they were playing to win (well, at least for 75 minutes or so.) Despite starting lineups that made me wonder if I was in a really bad nightmare or a horror movie where I could not escape (who on earth would start Musah ahead of Modrić?) Milan pinned Torino back for much of the match, not allowing any of our mistake-prone players to lose this match for us. And after Amorim finally did bring Modrić on, along with the recently maligned Rabiot, Milan scored two quick goals to secure the 2-1 win over Torino. This is what it is like when your team is winning intentionally.

United by winning.

Torino-Milan Preview: Facing Abate

Revenge is a dish best served up... on the pitch. And that is what I'm afraid of. Not only has Torino never forgiven us for the 7-0 smackdown we gave them five years ago in their house, now their manager is former Milan player, youth team manager, and ex-BFF of one Zlatan Ibrahimović, Ignazio Abate. Both his job and his friendship with the former Milan player and current RedBird Senior Advisor to Milan ended when Zlatan went all crazy diva soccer mom on both Abate and his father, Benjamino, who had worked for many years as a goalkeeping coach at Milan. Fast forward to 2026, and Abate is now at Torino, his first Serie A managing job, which also happens to be the club we play first this season. Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to facing Abate.

It hurts to see him as the opposition manager, especially after the way Milan treated him.

Milan's Preseason: Press Restart

After setting Milan's management on fire and burning everything to the ground, Gerald Cardinale finally found a new manager and appointed a CEO, as well as promoting people to do the roles-formerly-known-as Technical and Sporting Directors. So, after welcoming new manager Rúben Amorim to Milanello and presenting him to the press, it was time to welcome back the players and get back to work. After a scrimmage with Milan Futuro on July 19th, Milan headed to Scotland to face Celtic on  for their first friendly of the season. Their next stop was Australia, where they played a 1-1 draw with Inter, then on to Indonesia, where they were destroyed 3-0 by Chelsea. Back home to Milano for a couple of days of rest, and then off to Poland to humiliate Manchester United, Amorim's former club, to wrap up Milan's preseason. Press restart.

Milan's restart includes a new manager and a (hopefully) a returning young talent.