Tottenham Hotspur vs AC Milan. International Champions Cup.
U.S. Bank StadiumAttendance31,264.
Second goal in two games for Georges-Kevin Nkoudou
Wednesday 1 August 2018 17:20, UK
A superb strike from Georges-Kevin Nkoudou was enough for Tottenham to beat AC Milan 1-0 in their final International Champions Cup fixture in Minneapolis.
The Frenchman hammered the ball home in the 47th minute to hand Spurs a second win of their ICC participation and add to his strike against Barcelona on Sunday.
AC Milan rarely tested Tottenham after the break but had numerous chances in the first half and they will surely rue their wastefulness in front of goal.
The young Tottenham side began well at the US Bank Stadium, but the first chance fell to AC Milan in the 14th minute. Suso cut the ball back onto his left foot before whipping a superb cross into the area, but Patrick Cutrone could not get there in time as the ball flashed wide.
Spurs' best chance of the opening period came 12 minutes later and they nearly capitalised on some sloppy defending from the Italians. Mateo Musacchio failed to properly control a pass from Pepe Reina, allowing Luke Amos to get a toe onto the ball ahead of the defender, but his effort skewed past the far post.
Suso and Cutrone continued to link up for AC Milan, and forced Michel Vorm into a good save not long after. It was another superb curling ball from Suso that picked out the head of Cutrone, but his powerful effort was pushed away well by the Tottenham goalkeeper. Suso then flashed a fine cross in front of goal not long after but Cutrone was once again unable to get there in time as the ball went wide.
With less than two minutes on the clock in the second half, Tottenham took the lead. A woeful pass in the middle of the park from Davide Calabria saw Nkoudou latch onto the ball and burst into the box, before firing a bullet effort past half-time substitute Gianluigi Donnarumma.
AC Milan could have levelled not long after, but Hakan Calhanoglu's superb free kick just whistled wide of the upright. At the other end, Nkoudou almost scored a similar second as he latched onto a poor back pass from Calabria, but Donnarumma came off his line to smother the attempted cross from the Spurs man.
Nkoudou continued to trouble the AC Milan defence with his pace in the second half, and almost took advantage of a sloppy short pass from Donnarumma, zipping in down the left, but the goalkeeper got back to throw himself in front of the winger's attempted cross.
AC Milan did make it an interesting finish though, and nearly forced the game to penalties. Luca Antonelli raced down the left wing in the first minute of added time, but a badly-timed pass for Nikola Kalinic in the empty box saw the chance wasted. He then nodded the ball down for Jose Mauri a minute later, but the latter fired his effort well wide.
It was a superb first-half performance from Suso and one that warrants the man of the match accolade. Although Cutrone was wasteful with his chances, Suso continued to provide sublime crosses and passes into the box that were begging to be turned home.
On four occasions in the opening period, the former Liverpool winger produced moments of magic for his side and was the main reason why they were so attacking. He was substituted at the break and AC Milan lacked a creative spark that only saw a brief glimmer in the dying stages with two set-ups from Antonelli.
He played in all but three of AC Milan's games in Serie A last season, and based on his performance at the US Bank Stadium, he will be just as vital for them again in the upcoming campaign.
There is one more friendly left for Tottenham as they take on Girona on Saturday before having a week to prepare for their Premier League opener against Newcastle on Saturday 11 August live on Sky Sports.
AC Milan have another ICC game in the USA to play, facing Barcelona early on Sunday morning.
