Mbangula's Hat Trick Stuns Milan 4–2 as Juventus Fall Too

Serie A's giants picked the same night to fall over.

AC Milan were 2–1 up at San Siro and heading for another win when Bologna tore the script up. Samuel Mbangula had actually opened the scoring for the visitors after eight minutes, finishing from Nadir Zortea's pass, before Alphadjo Cissè turned the game around for Milan with two goals in thirteen minutes — one on 14 minutes, a second, assisted by Fikayo Tomori, on 27. Milan led at the break, unbeaten all season, at home. Then the floor gave way.

The collapse came in a two-minute burst on the hour. Davide Bartesaghi put through his own net on 60 minutes to level it, and before Milan had reset, Mbangula struck again on 62, from Juan Miranda's assist, to put Bologna in front. Milan chased the game and left the door open; Mbangula walked through it on 86 minutes, set up by Jens Odgaard, to complete his hat trick and finish a 4–2 win that will be talked about at San Siro for a while.

The result is Milan's first Serie A loss of the season — the first defeat of Rúben Amorim's side, per ESPN's match report — and it drops them to fifth on 18 points, seven behind the top. It is wilder still for who did it: Bologna arrived in 11th place and leave with 11 points, a mid-table side that went into the loudest ground in Italy and scored four.

Serie A

Juventus had a worse night in a quieter way. Genoa beat them 2–0 at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, and both goals were scored inside the first half-hour. Kingsley Ehizibue opened it on 12 minutes from Tommaso Baldanzi's assist, and Baldanzi scored the second himself on 28. Juventus never found a way back. It is their third loss of the season; they sit eighth on 14 points, 11 off the summit, and the title race is leaving without them.

Inter, meanwhile, won ugly and stayed top. Their 2–0 victory at Venezia came without an Inter player scoring at all: Venezia's Matías Moreno turned one into his own net on 79 minutes, and Redouane Halhal did the same three minutes later. Inter are unbeaten — eight wins, one draw — and level on 25 points with Lazio at the top of the table.

Napoli did their scoring the normal way. The goals were shared around — Rasmus Højlund, Matteo Politano, Rafa Marín and Kevin De Bruyne one apiece — in a win at Monza that was settled long before the end: 4–1. Højlund put them ahead on 10 minutes from Giovanni Di Lorenzo's assist; Gustavo Varela pulled one back for Monza just before half-time, but Politano restored the gap on 48, Marín made it three on 62, and De Bruyne added the fourth on 67. Napoli are seventh on 14 points. At the bottom, Parma and Udinese — 18th and 17th, five points each — played out a 0–0 draw that helps neither.

League Cup

England's cup night ran on penalties. Liverpool and Chelsea drew 1–1 at the end of a tight tie — Morgan Rogers converted a penalty for Chelsea on 40 minutes, Cody Gakpo levelled for Liverpool three minutes later — and the shootout went deep before Liverpool took it 6–5 to advance. Liverpool's first four takers — Alexis Mac Allister, Alexander Isak, Gakpo again, and Florian Wirtz — all scored, but Kostas Tsimikas missed the fifth kick, and it took sudden death to separate two sides who would not blink.

Manchester City needed the same route. Brighton led them twice at the Etihad — Malick Yalcouyé on 30 minutes, Georginio Rutter on 47 — and City answered twice, through Mateo Kovačić on 40 and Vitor Reis on 72, before winning the shootout 4–3.

The night's cleanest statement came from Bournemouth, who routed Aston Villa 3–0: Amine Adli in the seventh minute, Lewis Cook on 51, and Álvaro Rodríguez on 69 — the third set up by US international Tyler Adams. Sunderland were 3–0 up on Brentford inside 39 minutes through Chemsdine Talbi, Tymur Tutierov and Malick Fofana, then had to sweat after Callum Wilson scored on 42 and Igor Thiago struck in the fourth minute of stoppage time — 3–2, and through. Crystal Palace won 1–0 at Fulham on Eddie Nketiah's 37th-minute goal. The round closes Thursday night when Everton host Newcastle United.

MLS

The full MLS night — all 14 games — is covered in our combined roundup, "Two Rescues at the Death", led by Inter Miami's 2–2 rescue against Cincinnati and NYCFC's stoppage-time winner that eliminated Atlanta. The rest of Wednesday's finals: Real Salt Lake won 2–1 at Austin, Columbus won 2–0 at Dallas, Nashville and Philadelphia drew 0–0, Houston won 1–0 at Seattle, San Jose and Colorado drew 2–2, and Vancouver beat San Diego 4–1.

So one Wednesday reshaped two competitions: Inter and Lazio unbeaten and clear at the top of Serie A while Milan and Juventus both lost, and England's League Cup sent two of its giants through on penalties. The scoreboard had a quiet night nowhere.