UEFA Champions League: Abraham nets late winner as AC Milan secures win against Red Star Belgrade

A late Tammy Abraham goal earned AC Milan a thrilling 2-1 Champions League win over Red Star Belgrade at the San Siro on Wednesday to make it four wins in a row for the Italian side.

Abraham’s 87th-minute winner was a cruel blow to the Serbian visitors, who came back from a goal down and were pushing for a well-deserved winner when the Englishman struck to lift Milan up to 12th spot on 12 points.

Red Star is 31st with three points.

With the top eight teams qualifying automatically for the round of 16, Milan was looking to keep in touch with the leading pack but Red Star went close to drawing first blood with an Andrija Maksimovic volley that hit the crossbar in the 18th minute.

That jarred the home side into action but it had to re-jig its plans when Ruben Loftus-Cheek had to be replaced by Samuel Chukwueze due to injury and it was forced into another change when Alvaro Morata was hurt, with Abraham coming on in his place.

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Rafael Leao got the opener for the home side in the 42nd minute, superbly controlling a long ball from Youssouf Fofana before using his second touch to clip the ball into the top corner.

Nemanja Radonjic, who scored twice when his side came from behind to beat Stuttgart 5-1, equalised in the 67th minute, collecting the ball outside the box and unleashing a blistering shot that flew past the despairing dive of Mike Maignan.

Red Star almost went ahead when Mirko Ivanic dragged a shot wide before Abraham snatched the winner in the 87th minute, the striker making the most of chaos in the penalty box after a set piece to lash the ball into the net.

Milan coach Paulo Fonseca was pleased with the victory but expressed frustration at how his side played against a team that had lost four of its previous five games in this year’s competition.

“I have to talk to the team. I don’t want to talk too much, I want to analyse (the game), but there are things that are clear to me. It’s not a tactical or technical issue – we arrive here to a decisive match for us, and having this feeling of not doing everything to win the match is the worst feeling we could have,” he told broadcaster Sky Sport.

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Sitting in 31st place in the standings, Red Star pressed hard for a winner in the second half, leading Fonseca to question his side’s commitment.

“I know that I work every day to do well, I don’t know if everyone in our team can say that. We have the obligation to give and do everything to win, and we didn’t do it,” he said.

“I have to talk to the team about what happened on the pitch. They have to understand that this cannot happen.”