Dodi Lukebakio: From AC Milan Target to Benfica Star

There was a moment, not so long ago, when Dodi Lukebakio’s goals were supposed to light up San Siro for AC Milan, not silence it.

La Gazzetta dello Sport rolls the tape back to August 2025. Milan were in the middle of complex talks with Marseille for Adrien Rabiot, reshaping a squad that had just seen the Conrad Harder move collapse. With Samuel Chukwueze already packing for Fulham, the club needed a new wide threat. On the list of targets drawn up by the old management, led by Igli Tare, one name stood out: Dodi Lukebakio.

At the time, the Belgian winger was fresh from an 11-goal season in Spain with Sevilla. He ticked every box. Quick. Versatile. Left-footed. A clean, dangerous strike. The kind of profile that can tilt tight games and unlock deep defences. Milan made an enquiry. The idea was real.

Then the road forked.

Talks never turned into a concrete deal. Lukebakio’s path veered away from Serie A, and Milan’s recruitment strategy shifted elsewhere. The winger left Spain and, in early September, signed for Benfica in a move worth around €25m, agreeing a five-year contract with a €50m release clause. Milan chose a different route; Lukebakio chose Lisbon.

San Siro still got to know him. Just not in the way the home fans once imagined.

On Wednesday night, Davide Bartesaghi discovered exactly what those old scouting reports were talking about. Lukebakio, a natural left-footer who loves to start wide and slice inside, kept hunting that familiar angle: isolate the full-back, cut in, shape for the far post. It was that trademark movement that produced the opening goal, the winger gliding in from the flank before whipping his finish beyond the keeper. Clinical. Inevitable. And for Milan, deeply ironic.

At 28, Lukebakio has already lived a restless football life. Belgium, England, Germany, Spain, now Portugal. He has worn the shirts of Hertha Berlin, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Sevilla, hitting double figures in a single season for all three. On the international stage, he has 33 caps and six goals for Belgium, proof that his club form has not gone unnoticed.

Benfica look like the latest club to benefit from that blend of pace, power and precision. The numbers suggest he knows exactly how to hit his stride once he settles.

He has done it in the Bundesliga. He has done it in LaLiga. He has done it in the Premier League’s shadow and on the European stage.

The question now is simple: how long before he does it all over again in Lisbon?