Bournemouth defeated AC Milan 3-0 at home and have now won all three of their games in the Europa League.
And they haven’t been against easy opponents as well. The 2-1 win over Real Sociedad in San Sebastian was a huge result. 3-0 over Austrian side Sturm Graz was the expected outcome – and perhaps the same about tonight’s win over the Italian giants, given the circumstances.
But even while it was still 11v11 they already had the lead and were the far better side.
The Cherries haven’t exactly been able to carry this form over to the Premier League, sitting 15th in the table. But they did win last time out in the league (2-0 vs Sunderland) and have now won three in a row across all competitions for the first time in nearly two years (November-December 2024).
Justin Kluivert and Marcus Tavernier sent the keepers the wrong way from the spot, but how they got there in the first place is the key. And then Amine Adli hit a stunning free-kick in the 84th minute to seal the deal.
How did Bournemouth threaten AC Milan (and other opponents)?
Exploiting the left flank
Marco Rose went back to his more traditional line-up, featuring Tavernier, Kluivert and Ben Gannon-Doak after experimenting with a two-striker set against Sturm Graz.
Ruben Amorim, on the other hand, seemed to turn his usual 5-2-3 out of possession into a 5-3-2 of sorts. Chelsea academy graduate Ruben Loftus-Cheek went from left-attacking-midfielder to left-centre-midfielder, leaving Omari Hutchinson and Alphadjo Cisse leading the line.
Loftus-Cheek positioned himself not only deeper but also wider than Hutchinson on the other side. This configuration (plus the Jamaican’s poor defensive contribution) allowed the Cherries to build up quite easily from the left.
So much so that left-centre-back Antonio Silva had considerably more touches (104), passes attempted (97) and completed (94) than any other teammate. The closest in each metric was James Hill with 12 fewer touches, 31 fewer passes attempted and 37 fewer successful ones.
Set pieces (with twists)
At first glance, most would discard the three seet-piece goals Bournemouth scored against AC Milan for being penalties. But that should definitely not be the case here, as the first two originated from corner kicks.
Even the third one was the product of Gannon-Doak using pace and agility to win a dangerous foul. It’s something that could easily happen in any given match, considering he and a few other attackers like Rayan, Tavernier, Kluivert, Adli and Junior Kroupi are all light and quick on their feet.
Granted, the opposing goalkeeper apparently falling for Tyler Adams‘ famous ‘trash talk’ and pushing his face as soon as the ball went into play is not exactly a sustainable formula for creating opportunities. It’s the kind of thing we don’t see very often.
But the Cherries have been causing damage from set pieces all campaign long. They went into GW3 of the 2026/27 Europa League ranking first in shots and expected goals in set-piece situations.
For their first goal against the Rossonero, it wasn’t like an opponent fouled one of the Cherries players. It was a Koni De Winter handball following an Evanilson header that would have given Mike Maignan some trouble.
And this is actually a nice segway into our next point.
Evanilson headers
The Brazilian was once again in the mix as Bournemouth broke the deadlock against AC Milan. It was his header that won his side the penalty.
Just like it was his (very distant) header that finally unlocked Sturm Graz’s defence last week in the Europa League. Not to mention another that was cleared off the line and ended up as a disallowed goal for the Cherries.
The striker also hit the post with a header against Real Sociedad in the opening week back in September.
Evanilson has been a nuisance ever since joining Bournemouth, often doing all the right things but still struggling in front of goal.
He seems to have found a yet another way to be serviceable up front. And is now finding his feet, having been directly involved in at least one goal in six of his 10 games so far this season across all competitions (3G 4A). Not to mention him causing the penalty that led the Cherries to opening the scoring tonight against AC Milan.
His recent form is a reflection of Bournemouth as a club, actually. This could be the stretch that truly ignites their season, after going winless for their first six Premier League matches.
Up next are a struggling Manchester United side, which could be the perfect opportunity for the Cherries to make it four in a row. Though the Red Devils are obviously also looking for a turning point of their own.