Paulo Fonseca viewed Milan's display in their Champions League defeat to Bayer Leverkusen as their best performance of the season.

Milan went down 1-0 at BayArena on Tuesday, meaning they have now lost both of their matches so far in the new-look competition.

The seven-time European champions are now winless across their last six matches against German opposition in major competitions (D4 L2) since a 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich in April 2007.

Milan came on strong after Victor Boniface's goal early in the second half, though prior to that had been by far second best, mustering only one shot and 0.04 expected goals (xG) in the opening 45 minutes.

They hit the woodwork in the second half while Lukas Hradecky made a smart stop to deny Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and despite the rather grim match statistics, Fonseca believes his team turned in their best display of the campaign.

"We didn't win, but it's the game I've liked the most since I arrived here," Fonseca told Sky Sport.

"Especially in the second half. We played a fantastic game, it's not easy against a team like Leverkusen.

"We are sad and disappointed with the result, but I am satisfied with the courage and form shown.

"It was difficult for us. In the first half we suffered on the wings."

In the closing minutes, Leverkusen defender Piero Hincapie made a challenge on Loftus-Cheek at the edge of the area, which the Milan boss believes should have resulted in a penalty.

"For me it's a penalty, it's an intervention on the line," Fonseca said. "What's strange is that they haven't even reviewed the situation. The referee during the game had no doubts, but I don't like to talk about the referee."

Speaking to Milan TV, Fonseca said his side deserved to get something from the game.

"I honestly think the result is not fair, in the second half we created many clear chances," he said.

"It's true that we didn't win, but there was an improvement in our growth. It was evident. This is why we must move forward, because the growth is evident." 

Jeremie Frimpong fired into an empty net in stoppage time to cap Bayer Leverkusen’s outstanding 3-0 win over Bayern Munich as they celebrated carnival weekend in the Rhineland by moving five points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

Josip Stanisic, the man on loan from Bayern, opened the scoring in the 18th minute before Alex Grimaldo doubled the advantage five minutes into the second half, but Frimpong added an exclamation mark after Manuel Neuer came up for a corner and Leverkusen broke to punish him.

Bayern had more of the ball but throughout the night it always felt as though Xabi Alonso’s side were the more dangerous, and this was a huge statement in their bid to win a first Bundesliga title and banish the nickname Vizekuzen – a mark of the five times they have finished runners-up.

The match at the BayArena kicked off eight minutes late after fans threw toy balls and other items onto the pitch as part of ongoing protests against the prospect of outside investment into the Bundesliga, and once play began it was Bayern who appeared to be on the front foot.

But while Leverkusen were happy to invite the visitors on to them, they were simply waiting for the moment to counter.

Their first shot at goal came in the 11th minute but Amine Adli’s effort lacked the power to trouble Neuer. Adli threatened again seven minutes later before Kim Min-jae got a foot in just in time, but Bayern were asleep from the resulting throw-in and were made to pay.

Robert Andrich drilled in a low ball across the face of goal and the Bayern defence stood still as Stanisic arrived to fire home, left all alone by Sacho Boey, usually a right-back but deployed on the left here in his second appearance since joining from Galatasaray last month.

Adli had a superb chance to get a second just before half-time as Granit Xhaka’s pin-point pass put him clean through on goal, but Dayot Upamecano recovered to get a toe on the ball, poking it back to Neuer.

It took only five minutes of the second half for the second to arrive. Grimaldo played a neat one-two with Nathan Tella to carve open the Bayern defence before beating Neuer at his near post with a rising shot.

Bayern were rocking, and there was chaos in their penalty area soon after, with Eric Dier’s cross hitting the arm of Leon Goretzka before bobbling back to Neuer, with a VAR check for handball coming to nothing.

Grimaldo hit the crossbar direct from a corner just after the hour as the ball dramatically dipped, but it bounced to safety.

Bayern tried to up the ante as Thomas Tuchel turned to his bench but struggled to create any real opportunities for a frustrated Harry Kane.

Instead, Leverkusen looked more likely to score again. Frimpong had already hit a post at the end of one late counter-attack, but had the final say after Neuer failed to get on the end of the corner and he raced down the pitch to fire into the unguarded net.