SHENZHEN, China: AC Milan’s big summer signing Leonardo Bonucci enjoyed a winning debut for his new club on Saturday as the Italians crushed Bayern Munich 4-0 in a pre-season game in China.
The centre-back moved from Juventus for a fee of 40 million euro ($45 million) last week and came on as second-half substitute in front of nearly 40,000 fans in steamy Shenzhen.
AC Milan looked the more dangerous early on and opened the scoring in the 13th minute when a Ricardo Rodriguez cutback found its way to Franck Kessie, who drilled the ball home from the edge of the box.
Milan doubled their lead in the 24th minute with Rodriguez — a 17 million euro signing from Wolfsburg last month — again the architect.
The Swiss left-back curled a free kick into the box which Patrick Cutrone headed firmly past Bayern’s 17-year-old keeper Christian Fruchtl into the net.
M’Baye Niang, the most eye-catching player of the first half, caused all manner of problems down the Bayern flanks.
The Frenchman created AC Milan’s third goal when his defence-splitting pass put Giacomo Bonaventura clear. The defender then played a simple ball for Cutrone to slot home for his second of the match.
“The result surprised me a bit,” admitted Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti. — AFP
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