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AC Milan’s faint Scudetto hopes might have finally fizzled out, as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Como at San Siro on Wednesday night.
As the theme has been in recent fixtures between the two teams, it was the side from the lake that took a first-half lead. Nico Paz was the man who got the opener, profiting off a giveaway from Mike Maignan to slot into an empty net.
Milan drew themselves level somewhat out of nowhere in the second half as Rafael Leao lobbed the onrushing Butez after a long ball over the top from Ardon Jashari, making it 1-1. Both sides had half-chances to grab all three points, but it remained all square.
The result means that the Rossoneri are now seven points behind their city rivals Inter. With just 12 games to go and 36 points to be won, it feels as though the Scudetto hopes have slipped away, barring a collapse from the city rivals.
First half: Como profit from error
Massimiliano Allegri made four changes to the starting line-up from the team that beat Pisa on Friday. Koni De Winter returned to the three-man defence in Matteo Gabbia’s place, while Ardon Jashari and Samuele Ricci got the nod in midfield over Youssouf Fofana and the suspended Adrien Rabiot. Rafael Leao replaced Ruben Loftus-Cheek up front, who was a late exclusion.
What was rather intriguing about Como’s set-up was that Cesc Fabregas opted to ditch the four-man defence, matching up Milan’s 3-5-2 – at least on paper – and choosing Paz and Baturina to lead the line, therefore no recognised striker.
Como earned a corner in the fifth minute but almost turned it into a golden chance for their hosts. Luka Modric cut out the attempt to play it short and sent Zachary Athekame away, though his ball through to the onrushing Ricci was well cut out.
Milan again caused some disorganisation a couple of minutes later with Strahinja Pavlovic making a darting run down the right channel this time. His cut-back found Rafael Leao who spun and nearly created an opening brilliantly, though there was offside in the build-up.
The game descended into a bit of a lull with both sides not risking too much in possession. Como briefly thought they had taken the lead in the 26th minute when Roberto won the ball back off Ricci (who wanted a foul) and Vojvoda finished from Baturina’s feed on the break. However, the flag rightly went up for offside.
Milan then fashioned a couple of openings themselves. Firstly a switch to Athekame was taken down brilliantly by the wing-back who nearly surged through 1v1 before tumbling, then Leao fired a shot from a narrow angle at Butez that the goalkeeper just about managed to parry behind.
Just like in their three most recent fixtures against Como, Milan fell behind. The irony is that Mike Maignan was the saviour at the Sinigaglia last month, but this time he gave a goal away. The Frenchman was a bit lax in playing out from the back and his pass fell straight to Paz, who had the simple job of slotting in for his ninth league goal of the season.
Milan’s response was almost instant: Fikayo Tomori did a good job of feeding Athekame down the right and following it with a run into the box, meeting the cross with a volley that Butez tipped over the bar.
Maignan appeared rocked by the opening goal, and was nowhere near claiming an in-swinging free-kick from Como that landed right inside his six-yard box in minute 38 that Tomori then turned around. He did respond well with a save from Roberto, after the resulting corner was sent back in.
Second half: Leao levels but little else
Allegri opted to make an intriguing change at the break, with Matteo Gabbia coming on to replace Pavlovic. De Winter shifted to the left centre-back spot as a result.
After a start to the second half in which Milan generated little in terms of clear-cut chances, two more substitutions followed. Youssouf Fofana and Alexis Saelemaekers came on, replacing Ricci and Athekame.
Just after the hour mark, a fourth change came from Allegri who by this point was probably beginning to feel that unbeaten run evaporate into the San Siro night. Niclas Füllkrug was the man introduced, with Nkunku withdrawn.
Then, remarkably, a goal came out of nothing for Milan in the 64th minute. A goalkeeping error had led to the opener for Como, and this time it was Butez at fault. The keeper came flying off his line to try get to a long ball over the top from Jashari aimed at Leao, and the Portuguese got to it first, but still had the difficult task of lobbing it over the onrushing Butez to level the scores.
After levelling, Milan rather predictably found themselves on top and pushing to get in front. Fofana really should have netted with 20 minutes left on the clock as he met Saelemaekers’ cross from the right side in a great position, yet he couldn’t hit the target.
It was panic stations at this point for Fabregas’ side, with Carlos making a fantastic sliding intervention to deny Füllkrug a tap-in, and then Leao hit the bar from a corner that had been flicked on, though he was marginally offside.
Shortly after Como had hit the side-netting with a volley at the far post, tempers in the dug outs boiled over. It is not entirely clear what caused the technical areas to clash, but Allegri was the one who got sent off after storming over.
The coach was still able to enforce a final change before heading down the tunnel: Christian Pulisic was the man who came on, with Leao coming off.
Pulisic’s introduction saw him straight into the action as he often is. The American led a break down the left side and ignored the overlap to cut in, curling a right-footed shot that was sadly straight at Butez.
Saelemaekers was lucky not to be sent off in the closing couple of minutes. Firstly he was shown a yellow for a foul prior to a shot well blocked by De Winter, then from the corner that followed he clearly hacked down his man, but Mariani was delayed in giving the free-kick and didn’t dish out another caution.
The board went up at the end of the 90 to signify five added minutes, yet the only goalkeeper called into action was Maignan, who made a good stop down to his left to keep out a curling shot from Rodriguez from about 20 yards out.
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