For the first 45 minutes against Ferencváros, Lorenzo Torriani was giving AC Milan reasons to be pleased with his first start.
The visitors tested him in the fourth minute. He saved.
Kristoffer Zachariassen tried from a tight angle in the 17th. Torriani dealt with that too.
Then came a more difficult moment.
In the 26th minute, Milan lost possession while trying to play out from the back. Lenny Joseph suddenly had a clear chance, with only Torriani between him and the goal.
The young goalkeeper came out and stopped him.
Fourteen minutes later, he made another save from Joseph, turning a close-range effort behind for a corner.
Milan had not played a particularly comfortable first half, but they reached the interval at 0–0. Torriani’s four saves were part of the reason.
Seven minutes after the restart, everything changed.
Koni De Winter played the ball back towards his goalkeeper. Zachariassen moved in to press, Torriani failed to deal with the situation, and Joseph was left with an empty net.
Ferencváros were ahead.
By the final whistle, Milan had lost 2–0, and the incident in the 52nd minute had become the defining moment of Torriani’s first start.
Yet his evening had begun long before that back pass. To understand what the performance means for him, we have to return to the circumstances that put him in Milan’s goal.
His first chance came without warning
On 22 October, Milan travelled to Bournemouth with Mike Maignan as their starting goalkeeper.
The match quickly turned against them.
Justin Kluivert put Bournemouth ahead from the penalty spot in the eighth minute. Then, in the 27th, Maignan was sent off following an incident with Tyler Adams.
Rúben Amorim suddenly needed a replacement goalkeeper.
Omari Hutchinson was taken off, and Torriani entered in the 32nd minute.
There was hardly time for the young goalkeeper to settle. His first major responsibility was to face another penalty, this time taken by Marcus Tavernier.
Tavernier scored.
Milan were now 2–0 down, playing with ten men and relying on a goalkeeper who had started the evening on the bench.
Bournemouth eventually won 3–0. Torriani conceded another goal from an Amine Adli free-kick, although he also made a notable late save to deny Rayan.
It was an uncomfortable introduction to the season.
But Torriani had answered the immediate need. When Maignan could no longer play, Amorim had turned to him.
The question was whether the manager would do the same when he had time to prepare.
Maignan’s suspension ensured that decision would arrive with Milan’s next Europa League fixture.
This time, Torriani knew he was starting
Ferencváros visited San Siro on 5 November.
With Maignan suspended, Milan needed another goalkeeper from the opening whistle.
Amorim selected Torriani.
Unlike Bournemouth, there was no sudden red card forcing him onto the pitch. Torriani had been named in the team before kick-off, with the responsibility of helping organise the defence and build play from the back.
That was an important opportunity.
Still, the selection came with a complication.
Milan’s experienced reserve goalkeeper, Pietro Terracciano, had missed the Bournemouth match because of a fitness problem. Contemporary reports ahead of the Ferencváros fixture continued to describe him as injured.
The club’s starting lineup also included a player named Terracciano, but that was Filippo Terracciano, an outfield player. He was not the experienced goalkeeper Pietro.
With Maignan suspended and Pietro reportedly unavailable, Amorim’s senior goalkeeping options were restricted.
Torriani had earned the responsibility of starting. What he had not yet demonstrated was that Amorim would choose him over healthy, experienced alternatives.
That distinction would become important when evaluating the result.
A good first half, followed by a difficult decision
Ferencváros did not wait long to put the young goalkeeper under pressure.
Joseph tested him early, while Zachariassen and the visitors’ other attackers continued looking for openings.
Torriani responded with saves in the fourth, 17th, 26th and 40th minutes.
The one-on-one intervention in the 26th minute was particularly significant because it followed Milan losing possession during their own build-up.
Torriani had rescued a dangerous situation created further up the pitch.
It also showed that Ferencváros were capable of troubling Milan when the home side tried to move the ball out from defence.
That warning became much more serious after half-time.
Amorim introduced Diego Moreira, Mario Gila and Christian Pulisic during the interval, but Milan were still searching for greater control when De Winter played the ball back to Torriani in the 52nd minute.
Zachariassen closed the space.
Torriani attempted to deal with the ball under pressure but failed to keep it away from his opponent. Zachariassen won possession, and Joseph finished into the unguarded goal.
For Torriani, it was a costly mistake.
A goalkeeper who participates in build-up play must recognise approaching pressure, control the first touch and make an appropriate decision about whether to pass or clear.
In this case, he did not get that sequence right.
The fact that he had made several excellent saves earlier did not remove his responsibility for what happened.
But the mistake also raised questions for the rest of Milan’s back line.
Why did De Winter choose the return pass? How much time did Torriani have? Was a safer passing option available, or should the goalkeeper have cleared the ball immediately?
Those details matter because a team’s build-up depends on more than the player receiving the final pass.
The available match reports establish the failed intervention and Joseph’s goal. They do not provide enough detail to assign every part of the sequence to an individual without examining the full passage of play on video.
For Amorim, that is where the useful review begins: not with finding a single player to blame, but with understanding how Milan allowed Ferencváros to turn a back pass into a goal.
Milan had more problems than one mistake
Fourteen minutes later, Ferencváros scored again.
The second goal began with a ricochet in midfield. The visitors broke forward, Zachariassen supplied Joseph, and the striker completed his second goal of the evening.
This time, there had been no failed back pass to Torriani.
The danger came from a different area of the pitch.
Ferencváros were reduced to ten men in the 77th minute, giving Milan an opportunity to change the result. The home side still failed to score.
The final score was 0–2.
Torriani’s error had given Ferencváros the lead, but Milan’s defeat involved more than one goalkeeper’s decision. The visitors had created chances in the first half, exploited a midfield transition for their second goal and protected their advantage even after losing a player.
That broader context does not make Torriani’s mistake disappear. It places the mistake where it belongs: as an important moment within a difficult team performance.
The next selection will tell us more about trust
When MATCHIQ examined Maignan’s dismissal on 23 October, the distinction was clear.
Torriani had been chosen during an emergency. That was evidence he could be called upon, but not proof that he had moved ahead of Milan’s other goalkeepers.
The Ferencváros match adds something meaningful to that assessment.
Torriani has now started a European match. He made important saves, dealt with several dangerous moments and experienced the different demands of playing from the opening minute.
He also made an error while trying to handle pressure in possession.
Both parts of the performance matter.
What remains unanswered is whether the opportunity reflected a genuine change in Amorim’s preferred goalkeeper order or the limited options caused by Maignan’s suspension and Pietro Terracciano’s reported injury.
That question can only be tested properly when the experienced goalkeepers are available again.
If Torriani continues to start important matches despite that competition, it will be stronger evidence of the manager’s confidence. If he returns to the bench, his first start will still have given Milan useful information about his development.
For now, the coaching response should be specific. Torriani’s decisions under pressure need reviewing alongside the passes he receives and the support offered by teammates. Those are practical issues Milan can work on.
The story of his first start cannot be reduced to the ball rolling into an empty net.
In the 26th minute, Torriani stopped Joseph after Milan had lost possession at the back.
In the 52nd, he was unable to prevent another dangerous situation from becoming a goal.
His first start showed both why Milan could turn to him and what he still needs to improve. Whether it also marked a change in his place within the squad remains a separate question.