AC Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca has explained his decision to implement the changes he made in the second half of the win over Club Brugge, while also claiming Francesco Camarda deserved the disallowed goal.

Milan finally hit the ground running in the Champions League with a 3-1 win against Club Bruggewith Tijjani Reijnders scoring a match-winning brace in the second half with assists from two substitutes in Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze.

Before that, Christian Pulisic’s Olimpico goal had put the Rossoneri ahead in the first half and Raphael Onyedika’s red card after a VAR review looked set to make it an easy evening until the visitors leveled early in the second half arrived and stunned the crowd at San Siro.

Francesco Camarda saw a late goal disallowed which would have sealed the match and the record for the competition’s youngest ever goalscorer, but Milan will need the three goals and the three points to get the ball rolling.

Fonseca spoke to Sky after the match to comment on what was not a completely easy evening for his side, but ultimately yielded three points, and his comments were relayed by MilanNews.

It was a record-breaking debut for Camarda, and so close to scoring…

“I think he and the team deserved this moment. I’m sorry for the disallowed goal because it was a very nice moment for a young man who deserves to be part of this group and who worked hard to get this opportunity. I’m sorry, but he will score a lot of goals in the future. Don’t be disappointed, this is just the beginning and he will score a lot.”

What do you think of the performance?

“I think we played a game without intensity, with too slow circulation and we didn’t understand how to do that against a team that was good at defending low. When Okafor and Chukwueze came in, the game changed, they brought more energy and the team regained intensity. After the second goal we did very good things, before we played without intensity.”

Why did Leo get away?

“There is no specific problem with him. The change is not a punishment, we needed Okafor and Chukwueze. It has to be seen as normal, Rafa has to see it as normal and work on it to be able to help the team, like all the players.”

Wasn’t it possible to attack them a little more with a numerical advantage?

“Our intention was already 11 against 11. We have to do better. I don’t think we were aggressive until the second goal. After that, yes, but we have to be a more aggressive team.”

Chukwueze came on and seems to be doing better as a substitute…

“I think we have improved with the introduction of Okafor and Chukwueze. But we got much better when Pulisic started playing inside, no longer as a winger. To be honest, Pulisic doesn’t have the dominance as a winger that he has when he plays inside and when we changed the team was different.”

Can we see Chukwueze-Pulisic-Okafor from the first minute in the next match?

“Maybe. I’m going to think about it now. I have to say that I haven’t studied Bologna, I will study them and we will decide who will be the best players to play against them.”