Kiko Casilla was the hero as Real Madrid beat AC Milan on penalties in the global Champions Cup. He then scored his team’s last penalty before saving 16-year-old AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s spot kick to hand the Spaniards the global Champions Cup of the China leg.
Advertisement
The Chinese heat clearly looked to be a factor in the opening stages, with neither side willing to play at a high tempo.
But Real lacked the attacking threat they posed in impressive wins against City and Inter and they were nearly caught out by the pace of Milan striker M’Baye Niang five minutes before half-time.
The 20-year-old saw one effort saved from distance, before he was denied by Keylor Navas after an excellent darting run into the box.
Real Madrid started without James Rodriguez, but Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronado and Karim Benzema offered little themselves.
Bacca nearly opened his Milan account in spectacular fashion with a thunderous strike that was destined for the back of the net until Casilla denied him with an outstanding reflex save on the hour-mark.
Bacca’s second good chance came late on after a poor pass from Sergio Ramos went straight to Luis Adriano.
With their new goalkeeper making such a strong start to his Real Madrid career, the powers that be at the Bernabeu may decide they don’t need David De Gea after all.
After Bacca missed for Milan, Donnarumma produced a great save from Kroos to keep the shootout alive.
Advertisement
In his post-match interview via the club’s website, Casilla spoke about his first high-pressure situation as a Real Madrid and the overall progress and performance of the squad as their pre-season tour of Australia and China comes to an end.
