Alphadjo Cissè scored on his AC Milan debut to break the deadlock in the opening-day win at Torino, and the young forward could barely process the night afterwards.
For a player who spent his early weeks at the club sidelined by injury, watching training from the outside, the moment carried extra weight. The breakthrough came at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, where Cissè had threatened throughout without finding the finish to match his movement.
That changed on 64 minutes, when he found the opening that put Milan in front and set them on their way to a comfortable victory. He had been lively in the first half but kept falling short in the final action, until the goal arrived to settle both the contest and his nerves.
Speaking to DAZN at full-time, Cissè described what the night meant to him. “This is a unique feeling for me. I probably never would have dreamed of making my debut for AC Milan and scoring. I’m happy, but now let’s focus on Friday.”
Asked about the praise from his coach, who had said he loved the forward in his pre-match press conference, Cissè admitted he had missed it. “I’m just happy… But I didn’t listen to the conference, my friends told me (laughs).”
The injury he came back from shaped how he settled in, and he pointed to those weeks on the sidelines as the reason his return felt smoother. “I really believed. At first, I was out for a while, always watching every training session to get to know the coach. So when I came back, it was much easier.”
He also cleared up the small matter of his surname, confirming it is pronounced “Cisse. Without accent.”
A debut goal on the opening day is the kind of introduction that earns a young player more minutes, and the next chance comes quickly on Friday.