Modric and Rabiot steal the spotlight: All the key stats from AC Milan vs. Bologna

AC Milan moved onto six points from their first three Serie A games with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Bologna at San Siro.

Milan made it back to back wins in the league as they beat the Rossoblu on Sunday night, with Luka Modric the match-winner. The only goal took an hour to come and was the one real moment of quality in the game, from a player who turned 40 just a few days prior.

Possession not needed

It’s ok having a lot of the ball, but you have to do something with it. That sounds like the kind of mantra Massimiliano Allegri would have anyway, and fans have been calling this a ‘peak AllegriBall performance’.

Milan had just 39% possession against their opponents, but they generated 2 big chances to 0, 14 total shots to 5 and had 3 shots on target to Bologna’s 0. The Rossoneri also hit the woodwork four times.

Impressive debut

Adrien Rabiot made his full debut for Milan despite having only done his first full training session a few days prior. That followed a deadline day move from Marseille during which he had to do a medical while with the French national team, so he may have had an excuse for starting rusty.

However, he did not. Rabiot had an 85% pass completion rate, he touched the ball 52 times, won 11 duels, completed four dribbles and played all 99 minutes including stoppage time. It shows just why Allegri was so keen to sign the all-action midfielder.

Majestic Modric

Luka Modrić became the sixth player over 40 to score in Serie A, joining Ibrahimović, Costacurta, Piola, Quagliarella, and Vierchowod.

Luka Modrić (40 years and 5 days) is the oldest midfielder to score in Serie A history, surpassing the record set by Nils Liedholm, also with the Rossoneri (38 years and 169 days on March 26, 1961, against Inter).

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

Positive precedents

Milan have won two of their first three matches this season, a feat not achieved in the previous four seasons under Massimiliano Allegri – from 2010-11 to 2013-14 – where they never won more than one of their first three Serie A matches.

The Diavolo  hadn’t won two consecutive matches with a clean sheet since last February, against Empoli and Hellas Verona. Milan have kept a clean sheet in three of their last four league matches, as many times as in the previous 14.