Bojinov goal floors Milan in pre-season friendly

Manchester City picked up a morale-boosting 1-0 win over Milan in a pre-season friendly at the City of Manchester Stadium yesterday.

Valeri Bojinov continued to impress on his return from a near 12-month lay-off as he netted the only goal against the Serie A club.

The Bulgarian, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Manchester derby last August, latched onto a Michael Ball throw-in to lash a left-footed shot in off the woodwork.

Milan made a bright start and came close to opening the scoring after just five minutes when Alberto Paloschi saw his neat-post shot kept out by Joe Hart.

Paloschi had another opportunity soon after when he was played clear on goal by Andrea Pirlo only for Hart to deny him again.

Bojinov did make the breakthrough on 38 minutes when Flamini's clearance fell to him and he smashed an unstoppable shot past Dida.

Chances were few and far between in the second half as both sides made a number of changes to their personnel.

The defeat was Milan's second in a week to English clubs following their 5-0 humbling at the hands of Chelsea in Russia last weekend.