1 week ago
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AC Milan dropped valuable points at San Siro on Friday night, surrendering a lead and then having to scrap for a draw against Pisa.
Rafael Leao got Milan off to a brilliant start with a goal inside the opening few minutes, and it would remain that way until the second half. Pisa stunned San Siro by roaring back with a Juan Cuadrado penalty and an M’Bala Nzola finish to go 2-1 up.
However, there was an unlikely hero late in the game as Zachary Athekame fired a long shot in off the post in the dying moments to rescue a point for the Rossoneri. Top spot may yet be surrendered depending on other results, but it keeps the unbeaten run going.
Massimiliano Allegri made two changes to the starting line-up compared to the team that beat Fiorentina. Koni De Winter took the place of Fikayo Tomori who was given a rest, while Santiago Gimenez came in for Zachary Athekame, with Alexis Saelemaekers reverting to right wing-back.
It took less than five minutes for the game to settle into a pattern. Milan dominated possession and tried to prod open the low block that Pisa began the match with, though they were lacking in quality in the final third just as the away side didn’t have the cutting edge to manufacture any chances on the counter.
In the seventh minute, Milan took the lead and it was a third goal in two games for Rafael Leao. A free-kick in a central area was taken short to Luka Modric and worked wide to the Portuguese on the left, who whipped in what looked like a cross but ended up going through a crowd and nestling inside the far post.
After the goal the balance of play did not change much, with Milan looking for a second goal. At the other end though Pisa provided a reminder that the lead was a slender one, with Bonfanti firing over from a narrow angle.
In the 21st minute, there was the first flash point as Aebischer made a very dangerous challenge on Davide Bartesaghi. It was a firm challenge from the on-loan Bologna man, who went in high, but the referee didn’t even give a foul.
A couple of minutes later, Milan had an opportunity to go two goals up through a well-worked free-kick routine. The ball was worked from the left to Bartesaghi on the edge of the box, though his first-time effort was straight into the arms of Semper.
The Rossoneri continued to push for that all-important second goal in the build-up to the break. Fofana tested Semper with a low shot in the closing stages of the first half, after a lovely pass by Modric and an even better lay-off from Gimenez.
The away side started the second half on the front foot, firstly firing a shot over from distance that Maignan seemed to have covered, and then whipping in a low cross that the French goalkeeper claimed after a bit of a ricochet inside the box as Matteo Gabbia hit Samuele Ricci with a clearance.
Bartesaghi had been a bright spark for Milan down the left side and he provided a bit of individual brilliance in the 50th minute, rolling his man and cutting back towards Gimenez who fired wide first time.
In the 57th minute, the referee made a huge call as he gave Pisa a penalty for a handball. The substitute Juan Cuadrado cut in from the left and shot, with the ball striking the arm of De Winter, who was pulling his arm back in but was still penalised. Cuadrado took it having won it, and sent Maignan the wrong way.
Milan set about trying to regain the lead, and they came inches away from doing so in the 64th minute. A feed into Fofana was then sent onto Leao by a lovely backheel, but he hit the top of the crossbar with a shot from inside the box when it seemed harder to miss the target.
With 20 minutes left on the clock, the Rossoneri once again came incredibly close to retaking the advantage twice in quick succession. Firstly, Matteo Gabbia had a header from a corner saved, and then from the resulting clearance Alexis Saelemaekers saw a half-volley tipped over the bar.
A couple of changes came with a quarter of an hour left on the clock. Gimenez made way for Christopher Nkunku, while Zachary Athekame came on in place of Bartesaghi.
Nkunku had a huge chance to put Milan in the lead as the sides headed into the final 15 minutes. A lovely bit of hold-up play from Leao saw him thread the Frenchman in, yet his effort ricocheted off himself and out for a goal kick.
With four minutes left on the clock, the away side stunned San Siro as they took the lead. A long ball over the top from Toure found the run of Nzola, who scored past Maignan. There was some protest about a push on Athekame yet a VAR review yielded no reprieve.
As the clock turned towards 90 minutes, Leao had a big chance to potentially spark another comeback. A ball pumped into the box was met by Pavlovic – who was clattered in the air – but Leao fired straight at Semper on the spin.
Just as it seemed that the game was dead, Athekame was the unlikely hero in the 94th minute. A corner was cleared to the Swiss full-back on the edge of the box, and he let fly from range, with his shot eventually nestling in off the right post.
Saelemaekers was so close to a quite simply heroic moment beyond the allotted added time. The Belgian – playing in a left wing-back role at this point – drove in from out wide and hurdled a couple of challenges to get inside the box, yet he poked his effort a yard wide of the far post.
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