Milan opened their season with a 2-1 win over Torino, two goals inside three second-half minutes settling a game that grew nervier than it should have.
The result matters less than what it showed about the direction under the new coach. La Gazzetta dello Sport frame the performance around a shift in identity, one built on proactive play and an aggressive mindset rather than waiting for the opponent to offer an opening. On the evidence of the first 90 minutes, Milan look like a side trying to impose themselves rather than react.
For the opening ten minutes, the two teams traded blows in the man-to-man duels invited by their mirrored 3-4-2-1 shapes. After a scare from a counter that ended with Alphadjo Cissé firing wide, Torino dropped into a more defensive 5-4-1, with Vlašić and Casadei tucking in alongside Gineitis and Fitz-Jim. Milan took over possession, but the retreat drained the game of intensity.
Mascardi was worked only once before the break, denying Samuel Chukwueze after the winger had spent the half tormenting Cacciamani down Torino's left. The final ball was the problem. Gonçalo Ramos kept dropping deep to link play, closer to an attacking playmaker than a centre-forward, a habit shaped by his time under Luis Enrique at PSG.
That movement suits Amorim's system, but the club-record signing will need to rediscover his penalty-box instincts and start scoring regularly to justify the outlay.
The game turned when Amorim went to his bench. Off came Ardon Jashari and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, on came Luka Modrić and Adrien Rabiot, and within three minutes Milan had two goals. Rabiot crossed from the right for Cissé to finish with his right foot, then arrived himself to volley home Chukwueze's delivery. Both goals carried the markers Amorim wants: vertical progression, width, and a break through the lines.
The lead should have closed the game out. Instead Milan sat too deep, and Torino, with nothing to lose after Andrea Abate reshaped his side, came alive through Njie. The Swede, curiously left out of the starting XI, struck the post via a Maignan deflection and set up a chance Aboukhlal put wide. Adams pulled one back late from a Gineitis free kick, but injury time ran out before Torino could level.
Dropping the intensity too early is the one criticism Gazzetta level at Amorim, and it is a fair one. The broader read is more encouraging: this looked like a Milan asserting its own game rather than tailoring it to the opposition.
Amorim won't win a Scudetto with this alone, but a first competitive win that hinted at a clear idea is a reasonable place to start. From here, the question is whether the intensity holds for a full 90.