For one brief moment, you wondered if it might happen again. With eight minutes to go between the clubs who have won this competition more than anyone else, and Real Madrid 3-1 down, Antonio Rüdiger guided a shot into the net that might have been a bugle call, a call to arms, madness gripping this place again and ushering in another of those wild finales. This time though there was no comeback and no epic, only reality. Justice too. Rüdiger had been offside and the goal was ruled out, the illusion lasting only as long as the VAR check, leaving Milan striding to a victory they thoroughly deserved.
Goals from Malick Thiaw, the exceptional Tijjani Reijnders and the tireless Spain captain Álvaro Morata – of course – secured a win Milan badly needed and inflicted Madrid’s first Champions League defeat here since Chelsea won 3-2 in April 2022. Even back then Madrid, coming back from 3-0 down, had gone through, becoming one of the most miraculous champions in memory; here there was no such luck, no such reaction either. No noise, no revival, and no hiding from the truth. “We have to be worried,” Carlo Ancelotti admitted. “We’re lacking something.”
