Gonçalo Ramos scores, then luck plays a part: Milan wins, Venezia is furious

Milan defeated Venezia 2-0 in the early match of the second round of Serie A and, at least for one night, can look down on all the other teams in the top flight. At San Siro, on a night that began with a moving tribute to Franco Baresi, who passed away on July 31 at the age of 66, Gonçalo Ramos opened the scoring midway through the second half, before Halhal’s unfortunate own goal sealed the victory just before the 90th minute.

Venezia deserves credit for withstanding Milan’s pressure in the first half, during which the few chances created by the Rossoneri came to nothing, but everything changed in the second half: first, Musah hit the crossbar in the 55th minute, then, in the 69th minute, Gonçalo Ramos received a pass from Saelemaekers and beat Stankovic as he came off his line, scoring his first official goal in a Rossoneri jersey. The Venice players protested because the Milan play unfolded while an orange-and-green player was down on the field, but the referee and the VAR room did not see any circumstances that would warrant disallowing the goal.

The visitors’ frustration grew in the 89th minute, when, on another counterattack, Jashari (who had come on 30 minutes into the second half to replace Modric) found himself one-on-one with the Venezia goalkeeper and shot straight at him: however, the ball ricocheted off Halhal’s leg, who inadvertently put it into his own net, making the score 2-0.

In fact, that was the final highlight of the evening at the “Meazza,” which ended with a victory for Milan. For the Rossoneri, it’s two out of two in the league: this hasn’t happened since the 2023–2024 season, when the Diavolo—then coached by Stefano Pioli—started the season with three straight wins (2–0 at Bologna, 4-1 against Torino, and 2-1 on the road against Roma) before suffering their first defeat, losing the derby against Inter 5-1.