Cagliari 0-1 AC Milan: Leao scores on return to send Allegri´s side top of Serie A

Rafael Leao marked his return from injury in style as he was the matchwinner for AC Milan in their 1-0 victory over Cagliari.

The Portuguese winger’s strike in the 50th minute was enough to separate the two sides at Unipol Domus and send the Rossoneri top of Serie A, though Inter can reclaim that spot when they host Bologna on Sunday.

Cagliari started stronger out of the two sides as marauding wing-back Marco Palestra caused trouble for Milan down the right-hand side, most notably dragging an early effort wide of the target, while Michel Adopo sent a header straight at Mike Maignan.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek failed to hit the target with a good chance of his own in the first half, whereas Youssouf Fofana struggled to get a shot away in a crowded penalty area as Milan grew in confidence before the break.

And five minutes into the second period, Leao gave the visitors the lead. Fofana picked out Adrien Rabiot in the box, and the latter managed to square the ball to Leao, whose deflected strike flew into the roof of the net.

Although Milan slowly retreated towards their own box as they looked to see out their lead, Cagliari struggled to form any sort of threat after going behind as they registered just one shot in the second half.

Riding the first wave of the year pic.twitter.com/SPotcLD2g8

— AC Milan (@acmilan) January 2, 2026

Data Debrief: Allegri’s road warriors

Despite a slow start away from home, Milan’s quality eventually told. They produced 0.92 expected goals from 11 shots, compared to Cagliari’s 0.38 from six attempts.

Loftus-Cheek played a key role in tilting the midfield battle in Milan’s favour. The Englishman won seven of his 13 duels, including both of his aerial challenges, while also regaining possession four times and completing 15 of his 18 passes.

Milan are one of only three sides in Europe’s top five leagues in 2025-26, along with Real Betis and Bayern Munich, yet to lose an away match this season (W5 D3).

The Rossoneri are unbeaten in each of their first eight away Serie A games in a single campaign for only the second time in the last 20 seasons (since 2006-07) – the previous instance was in 2020/21, under Stefano Pioli, when they extended the run to 10 matches.