Verona vs. Milan: Final Score 1-3, Milan win on the back of a brace from Keisuke Honda

Milan continued their positive start to the season, with a great performance from Keisuke Honda, who scored a brace, and a little help from Rafael Marques, who scored a bizarre own goal.

Gone is the Milan of last season, cautious, barely able to create chances. The visitors started the game positively, looking for the goal from the start. Yet the first goal was down to a tremendous error from Verona rather than a great chance from Milan. In the 21^st minute, Ignazio Abate sent his cross into space. With no Milan player near, all Rafael Marques had to do was clear the ball. Instead, the defender sliced the ball horribly, putting it behind his own keeper. It was the first evidence of an appalling performance by the gialloblu defense.

Just as Hellas started playing better, pressing for an equalizer, Milan doubled their lead. Stephan El Shaarawy sent a long ball forward to Honda, alone on the right. With the gialloblu out of position, the forward had no trouble sending his curling shot into the far corner of Rafael’s goal. With Milan up 2-0, the hosts were forced to play a more risky game in the second half, opening acres of space for Milan to explore on the counter. Sure enough, when Panagiotis Tachtsidis lost the to Adil Rami, the defender quickly sent it through the center of the pitch for Honda. His chipped shot not only made it 3-0 for Milan, but also gave the Japanese international five goals on the season.

A curling shot from substitute Nico Lopez settled into the far corner of the Milan net, giving Verona a small amount of consolation - particularly as they’ve now fallen to seventh, while Milan climbed to fourth.

Goals: Nico Lopez, 87’

Red card: Rafael Marquez 90’

Milan: Abbiati; Abate, Alex, Rami, De Sciglio; Poli, Essien, Muntari; Honda (Bonera 86’), Torres (Menez 69’), El Shaarawy (Bonaventura 76’)

Goals: Rafael Marques own goal (21’), Honda 27’, 56’