AC Milan got their Europa League campaign up and running in style as a hat-trick from Alphadjo Cisse earned a 4-0 win over Salzburg to ease the pressure on Ruben Amorim. 

Cisse, and Goncalo Ramos' 72nd-minute strike, had Milan cruising before Filippo Terracciano was sent off late on, with the Serie A giants seeing out the closing stages comfortably.

Christian Zawieschitzky was on hand to jump at the feet of Cisse before Omari Hutchinson curled over the Salzburg crossbar as Milan aimed to stamp their authority early on. 

And Amorim's side did just that in the 15th minute through Cisse, who guided a bullet header from Hutchinson's cross past Zawieschitzky and into the bottom-right corner. 

Ruben Loftus-Cheek then saw his shot smothered by the Salzburg goalkeeper, with Hutchinson's effort on the rebound cleared off the line by Kevin Boma, before Haris Tabakovic then saw a goal ruled out at the other end after Leandro Morgalla failed to keep the ball in play. 

Milan went on to double their lead just after the half-hour mark, with Cisse in the right place at the right time to steer Davide Bartesaghi's first-time cross into the net after the full-back was brilliantly picked out by Adrien Rabiot's pinpoint loft over the top.

Rabiot was involved again for Milan's third goal four minutes after the restart, with his delivery across the six-yard box helped in by Cisse, whose hat-trick goal was confirmed after a lengthy VAR check against the Rossoneri youngster.

Salzburg attempted to get back into the game, but Milan's quality in attack proved too strong, with Hutchinson denied a goal his performance merited by the feet of Zawieschitzky. 

Milan put the result beyond doubt when Bartosz Mazurek's loose touch allowed Ardon Jashari to pounce, with the ball breaking for Ramos, who finished coolly into the net.

The visitors were, however, forced to see out the final seven minutes with a man less after Terracciano was penalised for a last-man foul with a shove on the edge of the box on Dominik Schmid, but the damage had already been done. 

What. A. Win! https://t.co/Ey1mjYOtu4

— AC Milan (@acmilan) October 15, 2026

Cisse makes European history in much-needed win

After losing their Europa League opener against Benfica, coupled with three draws in their last four Serie A outings, the pressure was on Amorim to deliver a positive result in Austria, and the Milan boss had a talented teenager in Cisse to thank. 

At the age of 19 years and 358 days, Cisse became the youngest Italian player in the history of the major European competitions to have scored three or more goals in a single match, while his first-half brace saw him become the youngest player in Milan history to score multiple goals in a single half in one of Europe's major competitions.

Milan have won 10 of their 14 major European matches against Austrian sides (D3 L1), with this result a morale-boosting one ahead of this weekend's Serie A clash with Atalanta, with their next Europa League clash seeing them face Premier League side Bournemouth. 

Salzburg, meanwhile, saw their struggles against Milan continue. They have failed to win in their last five major European encounters against them (D1 L4), and Danny Rohl's side were comfortably second best at Red Bull Arena on Thursday. 

Milan finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 3.99 from their 15 shots, 10 of which were on target, compared to Salzburg's tally of 0.79 from their 14 attempts, though only two of those forced Mike Maignan into action.