Ruben Amorim era off to winning start as AC Milan earn hard-fought 2-1 victory at Torino

Milan launched the Amorim era with a crucial 2-1 victory away at Torino on the opening weekend of the Serie A campaign. The breakthrough arrived in the 65th minute courtesy of a curling strike from Cisse, before substitute Rabiot doubled the advantage just two minutes later. While Che Adams pulled one back with a spectacular stoppage-time bicycle kick, the Rossoneri held firm to secure all three points.

Speaking to DAZN Italia after the final whistle, the Portuguese tactician singled out Cisse for praise while commending his players' resolve as fatigue set in late on.Reflecting on the teenager's display and the team's physical drop-off, Amorim said: "It was not just the goal, but the quality that Cisse showed during the game. In the first half, he acted like the most experienced player in our team, with the way he took the game forward.

"I think we saw one team for the first 75 minutes, then another at the end, we struggled physically. To press the way we want to for 90 minutes, we'd have needed more games in pre-season. We are improving some players, we have a lot of players who are doing pre-season now, but we will do more work during the week."

Addressing the intensity and grit on display during the closing stages, the Milan boss added: "The passion of the goal is for a coach who celebrated so many Milan goals, and now I am the coach of Milan, so I want to feel that passion in my staff too.

"I think we saw a way of playing that is more similar to what we used to do, but we need time to get this team playing in a different way. However, in the final minutes we were working as a team, suffering and defending, we were tired, but we were a team. That is a very good feeling."

Claiming all three points proved vital in keeping pace with early title rivals Inter, Napoli, and Juventus, who all registered opening-round wins.

Emphasising his core philosophy and bottom-line approach, Amorim explained: "The most important thing is to win. We talk about ways of playing, but there is one goal in football, winning. It’s not enough, it cannot be enough for Milan, but we showed some of what we worked on in training and in pre-season, even under stress, and that is a good feeling."

Amorim will now turn his attention to building match fitness and tactical coherence ahead of his San Siro debut against Venezia on Friday. The medical staff must also assess summer signing Mario Gila, who was forced off with an injury during the second half. Milan's primary objective remains sustaining a high-intensity press across a full 90 minutes to establish consistency at the summit of Serie A.