Half-and-half scarves were selling for £15 outside the Vitality Stadium, with vendors enjoying a brisk trade. Usually dismissed as tourist kitsch, the souvenirs felt entirely appropriate for Bournemouth supporters on a night when nobody wanted to forget what they were witnessing.
One side represented Bournemouth, a club beaten 2-1 at home by Bury in League One 15 years ago to the day. The other carried the colours of AC Milan, Italian giants who have lifted the European Cup or Champions League seven times.
Inside the Vitality Stadium, fans received a scarf from Bournemouth bearing the words: ‘We are all going on a European tour.’ Even so, many supporters were more than happy to take home additional souvenirs from the historic evening when AFC Bournemouth swept aside AC Milan.
The occasion carried a sense of theatre from the outset. Fireworks lit up the skies above the Vitality, Andy Williams’s The Impossible Dream rang around the ground and a giant tifo posed the question: ‘How did we end up here?’
Some members of the Milan contingent may well have been asking themselves exactly that as their team fell 1-0 behind after eight minutes and then 2-0 down by the 32-minute mark of this Europa League clash.
Both goals came from the penalty spot, with Justin Kluivert converting the first and Marcus Tavernier dispatching the second. Milan’s task became even harder when goalkeeper Mike Maignan was sent off for pushing Tyler Adams in the face, leaving the visitors to play the rest of the match with 10 men.
Bournemouth produced a famous 3-0 victory over AC Milan at the Vitality Stadium
Fifteen years after coming close to liquidation, Bournemouth’s supporters will treasure this landmark European performance
The finishing touch arrived when Amine Adli curled a 25-yard free-kick into the net. On the touchline, Ruben Amorim, the former Manchester United manager now leading Milan, could only laugh as the Bournemouth crowd sang: ‘Ruben Amorim, it’s happened again.’
His good humour may not have been appreciated in Italy, particularly after one furious journalist in the press box tore his accreditation into pieces while Milan trailed 3-0.
Italian reporters had predicted trouble before kick-off and watched the result unfold with the unmistakable expression of people whose warnings had been ignored. ‘You don’t understand,’ one had insisted beforehand. ‘This isn’t the AC Milan of old.’ He was right. Afterwards, Amorim pointed to Maignan’s dismissal, saying: ‘We need 11 players on the pitch at all times. We killed our game.’
Bournemouth manager Marco Rose urged caution despite the emphatic scoreline. ‘Our club, we stay humble. We know we are good. If we have the whole squad, we know we can compete with anyone, anywhere. But the season is long. We have so many games. Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday. It’s so demanding,’ he said.
Bournemouth’s very existence was once in doubt. Former chairman Jeff Mostyn, who attended this match as a supporter, wrote another £100,000 cheque in 2008 to help rescue the club from liquidation.
This victory marked a huge moment during Bournemouth’s first European campaign. The club was willing to celebrate the extraordinary achievement, but its ambition is to make nights like this increasingly familiar. Owner Bill Foley is pursuing that vision, and beating Milan can only strengthen the argument that the club is no temporary stop for prized players such as Chelsea target Alex Scott.
Bournemouth managed the result despite Scott’s absence through injury. They took the lead after Evanilson headed towards goal from Tavernier’s cross, only for the ball to strike Koni De Winter’s hand as it travelled wide. The incident went unnoticed by almost everyone inside the stadium, but Dutch VAR official Dennis Higler spotted it, and Greek referee Vassilis Fotias confirmed the decision after reviewing the monitor. Kluivert then calmly placed his penalty into the bottom-right corner.
Amorim was already showing his frustration in the technical area when Maignan shoved Adams in the face during a Bournemouth corner. The incident initially passed the crowd by, but the stadium soon erupted when the goalkeeper was shown a straight red card.
AC Milan are a long way from the stature they once held as seven-time European champions
Milan’s problems deepened when Mike Maignan was shown a straight red card for pushing Tyler Adams in the face
Milan had to send on substitute goalkeeper Lorenzo Torriani, with Omari Hutchinson making way. The 22-year-old’s shin pads featured an image of himself in an England Under-21 shirt, but it was Tavernier who took responsibility for the resulting penalty and fired Bournemouth 2-0 ahead.
Adli’s free-kick in the 84th minute completed Bournemouth’s memorable 3-0 victory. Milan finished the contest without managing a single shot on target—a humiliating statistic even for a team forced to play much of the game with 10 men.
This was a night to cherish for Bournemouth, now winners in all three of their Europa League outings. Indeed, a fair few will hang those scarves in their homes as a reminder. But as a club aiming to go places, they hope this is just the first of many matches with European heavyweights.
