by Bukayo Saka scored the only goal when Arsenal opened her pre-season tour 2025-26 on Wednesday with a narrow 1-0 win against AC Milan.
After the first half was coordinated, Saka from Jakub Kiwiors crossed home to put the Gunners in the lead, which proved to be a frustrating attack trip, where 23 shots only deliver one goal.
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Three of Mikel Areta’s four summer signatures made their debut, with Christian Norgaard ending the first half before Martin Zubimendi and Kepa Arrizabalaga were introduced after the break.
The trio impressed-care dictated the pace of the procedure in the first half, while Kepa saved three spots kicks in a novelty after the matching me.
A harvest from Academy perspectives was also seen, with the highly rated Prospect Max Dowman with his first touch on the ball shortly before the goal.
The end result was not entirely representative of the game. Arsenal was conveniently the better side in both halves, but was denied by a number of remarkable parades by Terracciano and his 20-year replacement Lorenzo Torriani, who saved three spot kicks in the latest shootout after playing.
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If it were not for the interventions of the young Italian to contest quality efforts from Reiss Nelson’s curling and Mikel Merinos driven header, the edge could have been much wider.
Arsenal was quickly out of the gates. Saka and Ben White picked up where they stopped last season, renewed their partnership and combined well to keep the AC Milan Back line under constant pressure.
Ethan Nwaneri was also sharp and forced a executor rescue from Terracciano at 23 minutes. After getting the ball from Norgaard with his back to the goal, he made his marker with a clever film and was unlucky not to open the hits when he shot on the semi -volley.
Arsenal did well in the back to finish rare attacks with Milan. William Saliba introduced Rafael Leao far when the Portuguese broke through the Gunners line shortly before half an hour, while Riccardo Calafiori, who had been struggling with injuries for a long time, was back to his physical best strip last season and brought in several important duels to keep Milan.
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Arsenal was stacked when the half was approached, with Gabriel Martinelli, Saka and White all close, but friendship remained a level when the pipe blew.
However, it didn’t take long for Milan to crack after the break, since five arsenal changes brought renewed energy into the game.
The replacement kiwior delivered a decent cross to a dangerous area that Saka knocked home from the edge of the six-yard box to open both its and the arsenal accounts for the new season.
In his next replacement round, Areta Colney looked and introduced Dowman, Joshua Nichols and Marli Salmon, the young trio, which was put together by the relative veteran Mikel Merino.
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Dowman immediately represented a credible threat, picked up the ball and cut in to shoot. His efforts flew wide. The 15-year-old combined well with Kai Havertz to break the lines and caused problems with his dribbling from Milan.
However, it was mostly a frustrating second half for the Gunners because they kept the pressure on but could not find a second goal.
Nelson made a short cameo appearance and came closest with two late chances, but saw a long that impressed by Torriani and parried an impressively parried.
