Reijnders gifts ailing Milan Festive jubilation in Verona

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Tijjani Reijnders gave AC Milan something to cheer about over Christmas with the only goal in Friday’s 1-0 win at lowly Verona, which was marred by several fan protests.

Dutch midfielder Reijnders scored his eighth goal of the season from Milan’s first real chance of the game in the 56th minute, pouncing home first time from Youssouf Fofana’s neat pass.

“It was very important… luckily we won because it was a difficult game, but we got the three points and now we can celebrate Christmas,” said Reijnders.

Reijnders’ strike moved Milan up one place to seventh on 26 points, five off the Champions League positions and 11 behind leaders Atalanta, who host Empoli on Sunday.

That position is not where supporters expected it to be this season under Paulo Fonseca, and the outfielder voiced his dissent throughout the first half.

Chants demanding Gerry Cardinale, founder of Milan’s owners RedBird Capital Partners, to “sell and go” rang out around the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi, as others urged the players to “show some balls”.

Milan chairman Paolo Scaroni said on Friday that Redbird is a “committed long-term owner” after announcing a refinancing of the seller’s loan taken out with previous owners Elliott Management when he bought the club in 2022.

Reijnders has been one of the few consistent bright spots in an otherwise up-and-down season for Milan, whose club’s 125th anniversary celebrations were marred by angry fans barracking players and ownership.

Milan came into Friday’s match missing a host of key players, including Christian Pulisic and Alvaro Morata, and lost Rafael Leao to a blow to his left hamstring in the first half.

Leao was replaced by Theo Hernandez, who was dropped to the bench once again, despite Fonseca, whose job is reported to be under threat, insisting the France full-back will not be punished for bad attitude.

“I just spoke to Rafa and I don’t think it’s anything serious,” Fonseca told DAZN.

“We’ll know more tomorrow, but it (taking him off) was more of a precautionary measure because he didn’t want to take any risks.”

A narrow defeat to Verona leaves Paolo Zanetti’s side a point and a place above the relegation zone.

td/dj