Late goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ismael Bennacer saved AC Milan‘s blushes as it scraped a 4-2 win in Serie A at Bologna, who were down to nine men for more than half an hour on Saturday.

Although Milan enjoyed the numerical advantage, it appeared as if they were going to be held to a draw before Bennacer scored six minutes from time and Ibrahimovic made sure of the win right at the death.

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“It’s the kind of shot that you can try 10 times and it will only go in once,” Bennacer said, according to AP inputs. “I hit it well and I scored and it’s a goal that matters, so I am happy.”

After defender Adama Soumaoro was sent off in the 20th minute, the game appeared to be all but over before halftime, with Milan leading 2-0 and Bologna down to ten men. After an own-goal by Ibrahimovi and a beautiful effort from Musa Barrow, Bologna drew level seven minutes into the second half.

Bologna, on the other hand, drew another straight red card in the 58th minute when Roberto Soriano was dismissed.

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“I don’t want to talk about referees any more,” Bologna coach Siniša Mihajlović said. “With 11 men we were better than Milan.

“The guys should be proud of what they did. Today we lost points but we won in our gameplay, in our spirit and in our courage.”

With the victory, Milan moved top of Serie A, a point ahead of Napoli, which travels to Roma on Sunday looking to preserve its perfect start to the league season.

“We struggled because we thought the game was over,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli said. “If you stop playing then you risk it all. Luckily we had the right quality to get it back.”

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Bologna’s problems worsened five minutes later when Soumaoro was sent off for tripping Milan player Rade Kruni as he was clean on goal.

When Skorupski flapped at a corner, the ball was only half cleared to the outside of the area, where Davide Calabria hammered the ball forcefully into the back of the net to double Milan’s advantage.

Four minutes after halftime, Ibrahimovi allowed Bologna a way back into the game with an own-goal, and the comeback was completed three minutes later when Barrow avoided the offside trap to fire in the equaliser.

Milan restored its lead when Bologna again only cleared to the edge of the area and Bennacer volleyed into the bottom left. And Ibrahimović sealed the result with his first goal since turning 40 earlier this month.

With inputs from the Associated Press