3 hours ago
34
AC Milan dropped two points against Parma on Saturday evening, squandering a two-goal lead after a second-half collapse that left Massimiliano Allegri furious.
As highlighted by today’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport, Milan have dropped seven points against teams that are looking to avoid relegation: the 2-1 defeat to Cremonese, the 2-2 draw against Pisa, and now the 2-2 draw against Parma.
The Rossoneri’s regrets are starting to weigh heavily, and the fact that they have moved level with Napoli on points (thanks to the draw) is no consolation. Indeed, the Partenopei, Roma and Inter could all leapfrog Milan today.
25 minutes, then sleep…
Allegri’s men had a 2-0 lead after 25 minutes, then slumbered, and Parma went from being dominated to dominating Milan. There’s no point complaining about the huge chances squandered towards the end by Pulisic and Saelemaekers.
Milan shouldn’t have been caught to begin with, so taking the win for granted was the gravest mistake of them all. After 25 minutes of the first half, no matches are ever won. Until the Rossoneri gain enough experience to understand that, there will be no point in talking about the Scudetto.
Today, it’s hard to imagine a team that handed seven points to Cremonese, Pisa, and Parma winning the league. Seven points, seven deadly sins.
Poor defending and missed chances
After the second goal, Milan got way too comfortable with their lead, to the point of relaxation. Pervis Estupinan ended up in a duel with Sascha Britschgi, a shoulder-to-shoulder duel in which the Ecuadorian looked like a wimp (indeed, he got a very poor rating by us).
Britschgi passed to Adrian Bernabe, who was left with enough space to fire a shot into the top corner. A great goal, without a doubt, but it all came from very poor defending. And so, the teams went into the half-time break with just one goal separating the two.
Let’s assume that Allegri made his voice heard during the half-time break, but his outburst was in vain. At the start of the second half, Milan completely surrendered to Parma. A dystopian scenario. We would have expected the opposite, that Milan would regain control.
A furious Parma attacked relentlessly and eventually, they equalised. Britschgi was the key man on the right once again against Estupinan, this time with a cross for Delprato, who headed the ball past Mike Maignan and earned the most deserved of 2-2 draws.
At that point, Allegri decided to play the Christian Pulisic card, but the American missed a fantastic chance to score the winner, a one-on-one with Suzuki. Another goal and a half was also squandered by Saelemaekers, who rounded the keeper and still missed.
English (US) ·