Our own preseason tour across America continued, this time taking us to Kansas and Children’s Mercy Park as Bayern Munich took on AC Milan as part of the International Champions Cup. Another mouth-watering fixture on paper, with both sides naming strong starting line-ups, and one worthy of a place in our 'Framed' series.
Bayern had enjoyed an indifferent preseason prior to this match, with a loss against Arsenal being followed up by an impressive win against Real Madrid. In contrast, this was Milan’s first match since head coach Marco Giampaolo took the helm at the Serie A club, who parted ways with Gennaro Gattuso at the end of last season. Another chance to boost match fitness, assess options and hone tactics.
The sold-out, 18,469-capacity Kansas crowd were treated to some nice attacking football throughout, with both sides creating chances. But it was Bayern who made the decisive move, with right back Joshua Kimmich finding Goretzka with a defence-splitting pass deep into first half stoppage time. The Germany midfielder coolly slotted the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma to give the German champions the lead. And it didn’t change from there. The closest Milan got was when Niklas Süle uncharacteristically played a loose pass straight to the feet of Patrick Cutrone, but the Italian attacker was foiled by an outstanding save from Sven Ulreich, making amends for his red card against Madrid.
The men from Munich signing off from their US summer tour in style then, while Giampaolo's Milan prepare to face Benfica.
Photography by Stephen Shireman for SoccerBible.