Milan came back from 0-2 against Lazio: Diego Moreira rescued a point in Rome with two goals in two minutes
Milan avoided defeat at Rome's Stadio Olimpico after two very different halves and drew 2-2 against Lazio in the fourth round of Serie A. Gennaro Gattuso's team held a two-goal advantage after the opening 45 minutes, thanks to Matteo Cancellieri and Tijjani Noslin, but Milan completely changed the rhythm of the match after the break. Coach Rúben Amorim's key move was making a triple substitution at half-time, when Diego Moreira, Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah came on. Moreira then scored twice in the 65th and 67th minutes, turning an almost lost match into a valuable point for the visitors. The draw ended Lazio's perfect league run, while Milan remained without a victory for a second consecutive match, but their reaction in the second half allowed them to avoid a much heavier blow.
The match was played on 12 September 2026 in front of the Rome crowd, with Matteo Marcenaro as the referee. According to official Lazio data and reports from Italian and international sports media, the home side entered the contest after three victories in the opening three rounds, while Milan had seven points before arriving in Rome. Ahead of the match, Lega Serie A particularly highlighted that Lazio had opened the league season with three victories for the first time since the 2012/13 season. For a long time, that run looked as though it would be extended, because Gattuso's team were faster, more aggressive and more incisive in the first half. Only after the break did Milan find a way to create space on the flanks and shift the pressure into the home side's half.
Lazio dominated the first half
The home side took the lead as early as the 10th minute. Mattia Zaccagni crossed from the left, and Matteo Cancellieri timed his run into the space behind Milan's defence and finished the move for 1-0. According to beIN Sports' report, Milan had an early opportunity through Samuel Chukwueze, but goalkeeper Christos Mandas managed to intervene before Lazio took control of the match. After taking the lead, the Romans continued to cause problems for the visiting defence, particularly through Zaccagni and Nuno Tavares. Mike Maignan had to intervene against Zaccagni, while Davide Frattesi also threatened with runs from deep.
The second goal arrived in the 39th minute and was the logical consequence of the home side's pressure. After a move down the left and a cross into the penalty area, the ball struck the frame of the goal, and Noslin reacted fastest to the rebound to make it 2-0. Sofascore's report states that Lazio managed to exploit Milan's problems defending the width in the first half and made well-timed runs into the space behind the full-backs. During that period, the visitors struggled to establish continuity in possession, while their attacking moves broke down before Gonçalo Ramos or the players behind him could receive enough quality balls in the final third. The teams therefore went into the break with the home side holding a clear advantage and with the impression that Milan would need to make a serious tactical adjustment if they wanted to get back into the match.
Gattuso's plan in the first half worked even without long spells of possession. Lazio attacked more directly, accelerated when they won the ball and exploited Milan's high positioning. Zaccagni created overloads on the left, Cancellieri attacked the space, and Noslin occupied the central defenders with his movement. That structure forced Milan into recovery sprints and made it difficult for them to calmly play the ball out. In the opening 45 minutes, the home side therefore got exactly the kind of match they wanted: open, intense and with enough space to attack behind their opponents.
Amorim reacted with three substitutions and changed the course of the match
Rúben Amorim did not wait. At the start of the second half, he introduced Moreira in place of Pervis Estupiñán, Pulisic in place of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Musah in place of Luka Modrić. Those substitutions changed the balance of power on the pitch. Milan gained more speed in moving the ball forward, more aggressive pressure after losing possession and a greater number of players attacking Lazio's last line. The home side began to drop deeper, while the visitors increasingly reached the final phase of attacks from wide positions.
According to data reported by beIN Sports, Lazio had only 28.1 percent possession in the second half and barely increased their expected-goals value during that part of the match. That statistic accurately describes how much the picture of the contest changed. Mandas had to save attempts from Strahinja Pavlović and Pulisic, while Milan's pressure became increasingly intense. Instead of the team that had struggled with Lazio's tempo in the first half, Milan were now dictating where the game would be played and forcing the home side to defend their own penalty area.
The visitors' first goal came in the 65th minute. Pulisic sent a deep ball towards the left side, and Moreira found the net with his left foot from a very difficult angle to make it 2-1. Just two minutes later, he was once again at the centre of the move. After a pass from Adrien Rabiot, Moreira found space on the edge of the penalty area and accurately struck into the bottom corner for 2-2. In the space of only two minutes, Milan had erased everything Lazio had built in the first half.
Moreira came off the bench and became the central figure of the match
The two goals in Rome further focused attention on a player who had only arrived at Milan in August. On 19 August, AC Milan officially announced that Diego Moreira had signed a contract until 30 June 2031 and taken the number 22 shirt. The club signed him from French side Strasbourg, where, following earlier spells at Benfica, Chelsea and Lyon, he built a reputation as a fast and tactically adaptable winger. In its official announcement, Milan describes him as a Belgian international.
Moreira was born in Liège on 6 August 2004, and his international story has two phases. At youth level, he represented Portugal up to U-21 level, including at the 2023 European Under-21 Championship, but since 2025 he has played for the senior Belgium national team. Milan states that he made his Belgium debut during qualification for the 2026 World Cup and that he was part of the Belgian squad at the final tournament. For that reason, some reports still describe him through his Portuguese football background, but his current senior national team is Belgium.
His introduction against Lazio was particularly important because he brought not only individual quality but also a different geometry to Milan's attacks. Moreira attacked the space from the left, moved inside and forced the home defence to narrow, which opened opportunities for Pulisic and the midfielders. The first goal demonstrated his ability to finish from an almost closed angle, while the second showed his composure when shooting from distance. For a player who had arrived at the club only a few weeks earlier, such a performance represents a strong argument in the battle for more playing time.
Lazio missed the opportunity for a fourth consecutive victory
For Lazio, the draw had a different taste. After three victories in the opening three rounds, the home side had been on the verge of the best possible continuation of the season, and beIN Sports stated that a fourth consecutive league win at the start would have represented a historic breakthrough for the Rome club. Instead, after leading 2-0, Gattuso's team failed to control the change in intensity after the break. The substitutions in the 58th minute, when Gustav Isaksen and Andrea Pinamonti replaced Cancellieri and Noslin, did not stop Milan's growing pressure, while the home midfield found it increasingly difficult to escape the opponents' pressing.
Nevertheless, the result does not erase Lazio's very good first half. Gattuso's team showed that they can aggressively attack space against a high-quality opponent, quickly transition from defence to attack and create chances without prolonged circulation of the ball. The problem emerged when the match moved closer to Mandas' goal after the break. Lazio then went too long without a way out of the pressure and increasingly had to defend a large number of situations in their own defensive third. Conceding two goals in such a short period was a consequence both of Moreira's individual quality and of the fact that Milan, following the changes, managed to establish themselves permanently high up the pitch.
The draw took Lazio to ten points after four rounds, while Milan reached eight. That was the situation after their head-to-head meeting, before all matches of the fourth round had been completed. Before the contest, Lega Serie A stated that Lazio had nine points and Milan seven, so the sharing of the points preserved the two-point gap between the teams. The early stage of the league season does not yet allow far-reaching conclusions, but the match in Rome showed that both teams have arguments for high ambitions, as well as clear areas they will need to stabilise.
Milan earned a point, but also important answers ahead of their European continuation
For Milan, the manner in which the point was earned is probably just as important as the result itself. The team looked vulnerable in transition in the first half and failed to connect the lines in attack. After the substitutions, it acquired a completely different profile. Musah increased the energy in midfield, Pulisic brought verticality and the final pass, while Moreira converted two situations into goals. Amorim therefore received clear confirmation from the match that the depth of his squad can allow him to change the structure without abandoning his attacking idea.
The draw also continued a run in which Milan had failed to take the full three points. They had previously drawn 1-1 away to Juventus, so the point in Rome prevented defeat but did not allow them to move ahead of Lazio. Nevertheless, the psychological value of coming back from 0-2 could be significant, particularly because a European match comes next. According to AC Milan's official schedule, the team hosts Benfica at San Siro on 16 September in the opening round of the UEFA Europa League league phase. Four days later comes a league match against Lecce, while Lazio, according to the Serie A schedule, were due to play their next league match away to Venezia on 19 September.
Such a schedule further underlines the importance of rotation and the role of players coming off the bench. Moreira showed against Lazio how much a single change can alter the dynamics of a match, but the contest also exposed that Milan cannot rely on recovering from deficits as a sustainable model. For Amorim's team, the next step will be to carry the energy from the second half through an entire match, particularly against opponents who punish the space behind high-positioned full-backs.
A match of two completely different halves
Lazio and Milan ultimately shared the points in a contest that divided almost perfectly into two different parts. The opening 45 minutes belonged to the home side, who had greater energy, clearer movement and a more incisive attack. The second 45 minutes belonged to Milan, who, thanks to changes from the bench, increased the tempo and almost completely pushed Lazio back towards their own penalty area. Moreira's two goals in the 65th and 67th minutes were the most visible result of that turnaround, but Pulisic's introduction, Musah's energy and the visitors' generally more aggressive approach were equally important.
Lazio are left regretting the loss of a 2-0 lead and the opportunity to continue their perfect start to the season. Milan are left with the warning from the first half, but also proof that the team has enough individual quality and tactical options to come back in difficult circumstances. At an early stage of the season, matches like these often have greater value than the single point earned: they reveal to coaches which combinations work under pressure and show players how quickly momentum can change sides. In Rome, it happened in just two minutes, and the name that defined the evening was Diego Moreira.
Sources:
- SS Lazio – official line-ups, match time and refereeing team for Lazio – Milan (link)
- beIN SPORTS – match report, course of the game, two-goal scorer Moreira and the statistical context of the second half (link)
- Sofascore – chronology of the goals, assists and basic match data for Lazio – Milan 2-2 (link)
- Lega Serie A – situation before the fourth round, Lazio's run, head-to-head context and schedule of the next league matches (link)
- AC Milan – official announcement of Diego Moreira's arrival, contract, club career and international status (link)
- AC Milan – official schedule and confirmation of the match against Benfica in the UEFA Europa League on 16 September 2026 (link)