Club NXT U19 drew 1-1 for the third time in the UEFA Youth League. The first half went closed and without many chances. Nevertheless, our youngsters got the lead just before halftime thanks to a goal by Furo. In the second half, we held out for a long time against the attacking waves of AC Milan. At the end, however, they found a hole in the Bruges wall. Ossola placed the ball in the bottom corner. The third draw in a row in the Youth League. The next assignment is the home match against Aston Villa on Nov. 6.
At AC Milan's youth complex, our youngsters went in search of their first win in the UEFA Youth League. After a quiet start, Blauw-Zwart was able to advance towards goal for the first time. Yakymenko forced a first corner kick that was boxed away by the goalkeeper.
While playing the ball out, Deuwel caused problems for goalkeeper De Corte. A Milan striker was able to kick at goal, where Verlinden saved on the line . Fortunately, no early deficit!
A long drawn out attack by Club NXT ended up with Yakymenko via Furo. His cross whizzed past everyone in the sixteen. A nice attack by Club NXT. But Milan also created chances. Via a corner kick, a ground-breaking shot was stopped by De Corte. A far shot by Malaspina went high over goal.
A foul on the half-hour on Da Silva was not whistled. Milan took advantage and suddenly advanced. Liberali was free at the far post. He turned free and kicked over the goal via a Bridge leg. Milan put Club NXT under pressure and camped around the sixteen, but fortunately they did not create any real goal chances.
Yakymenko did push forward once more and had space to slide in. His pass toward Lund Jensen was too hard and his cross was turned into a corner. This rehearsed corner landed via Deuwel back in front of goal and found the foot of Verlinden. He deviated the ball over Pittarella's goal.
After a foul on Bisiwu, we got a free kick in an interesting place. However, Furo's header yielded nothing. A return ball towards goalkeeper Pittarella was almost intercepted by Furo, but the goalie was still able to clear.
However, our striker was able to put the 0-1 on the board a minute later. A return ball was again too short and Foru was able to intercept it. He bypassed the goalkeeper and neatly laid the ball inside. On the stroke of half-time, Yakymenko prevented the equalizer. A good cross was sent to the Milan left flank. Our Ukrainian, who played a strong game, had to stretch and was able to clear the ball.
Amengai replaced Lund Jensen at the start of the second half. Milan tackled firmly and received several justified yellow cards. Bisiwu was one of the victims and after ten minutes he had to be replaced by Al-Hassan. Chances remained out for the first fifteen minutes until Granados rebounded badly and put Milan in front of De Corte's goal at four to three. However, Verlinden read the attack very well and prevented an open goal opportunity with a perfect tackle.
Milan forced Club NXT to take risks. It resulted in unnecessary ball loss. On a corner kick, Milan headed narrowly over De Corte's goal. In a subsequent attack the ball landed on the roof of our goal. Milan started looking increasingly emphatically for the equalizer. An attack on the Italian left flank ended up in the penalty area with Comotto. His kick wavered and eventually disappeared well wide of goal.
Furo was sent into the lane on a counterattack and collided with the goalkeeper who could not clip the ball. Da Silva was well followed and picked up the leather and even went around the goalkeeper. From an acute angle, he popped at the goal, but the ball skimmed past the crossbar in front. It was the chance to double the score.
Both coaches replaced some players and the battle was hard along both sides. For the time being, our youngsters who were almost playing with an U18 team, held their own. Goalkeeper De Corte had to save the furniture a few times. The substitute Elbe got in front of our goalie, but De Corte saved very well. In the retrieval, the also substitute Poeketie stood in the way. It got hot in front of our goal.
On a corner kick, Milan's shot was blocked twice. Shortly before the end of regular playing time, it was all hands on deck in the sixteen. Delorge was back just in time to turn a cross into a corner. Later, goalkeeper De Corte went flat on a new Italian effort.
Shortly before the whistle, De Corte saved the equalizer twice with incredible reflexes. But the devil was really in the tail of the match. Shortly before the whistle, Ossola scored. He placed the ball in the bottom corner and the match ended 1-1. Sour for our youngsters who thus scored only a draw for the third time in a row.
Club NXT U19: Axl De Corte, Alexander Vandeperre, Wout Verlinden, Bruce Deuwel (75' Maik Poeketie), Oleksandr Yakymenko (81' Stan Naert), Jessi Da Silva (81' Daan Braspenning), Alejandro Granados, Lucas Delorge, Jesse Bisiwu (55' Al-Hassan Kamara) , Kaye Firo, Tobias Lund-Jensen (46' Naim Amengai). Bank: Argus Vanden Driessche, Emiel Callens, Gianluca Okon-Engstler, Jakke Van Britsom. Coach Robin Veldman.
AC Milan: Matteo Pinarella, Federico Colombo (69' Salem Albe), Pietro Parmigiani, Dorian Paloschi, Nirash Perera, Dariusz Stalmach (69' Lorenzo Ossola), Mattia Malaspina (76' Emanuele Sala), Christian Comotto, Mattia Liberali (76' Erneste Perin), Filippo Scotti (86' Alessandro Lamorte), Alessandro Bonomi. Bench: Eduardo Colzani, Tommaso Mancioppi, Valeri Vladimirov. Coach: Federico Guidi.
Goals: 42' Furo, 90 + 5' Ossola.
Yellow cards: 48' Paloschi, 50' Comotti, 58' Liberali, 62' Delorge, 89' Naert, 90+3' Sala.
Referee: Joonas Jaanovits (Estonia).
Stadium: Centro Sportivo Vismara, Milan.