AC Milan’s four-game winning run in Serie A came to an end as they were beaten 1-0 by Juventus at San Siro on Sunday night.
The big moment of the match came with five minutes left in the first half when referee Maurizio Mariani adjudged Malick Thiaw to have committed a last-man foul on Moise Kean, producing a red card which conditioned the game.
It was Milan who stayed on top for the vast majority of the game despite being a man down, but it was Manuel Locatelli’s deflected second half shot which beat Antonio Mirante and ended up being the winner.
The result means that the Rossoneri lose top spot to rivals Inter who they are now one point behind, while Juve now move one point behind Stefano Pioli’s side in third place.
Milan came into the game with eight absences including the likes of Mike Maignan, Marco Sportiello Theo Hernandez, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Samuel Chukwueze. Antonio Mirante was therefire in goal, Alessandro Florenzi got the nod at left-back and the midfield was Yacine Adli flanked by Yunus Musah and Tijjani Reijnders.
The home side certainly started on top, forcing a couple of corners in the early exchanges and having their first shot on goal in the sixth minute when Reijnders was encouraged to shoot from 20 yards out but couldn’t find the top corner.
Juventus threatened for the first time soon after with a break down the left side, but the ball pulled back to Weah on the edge of the box saw his shot blocked by his own player McKennie.
Szczęsny was called into action for the first time in the 15th minute and it was an absolutely sensational stop to keep out Olivier Giroud. Rafael Leao got the better of his man twice down the left and whipped in a low ball that found Giroud’s run, and his low angled shot was turned behind fantastically.
Juve had a good opportunity to test Mirante with a free-kick from a central location 25 yards out, but Milik’s initial effort was blocked and Kostic’s follow-up thankfully bounced wide of the far post.
After half an hour the pattern of the game had become apparent as Milan had over double the completed passes of Juve as well as the majority of the possession, and they needed to remain patient to try break down the visitors’ defensive lines.
The Bianconeri provided the occasional reminder of their threat on the break, such as when Rabiot drilled a low cross/shot across goal that evaded everyone and went wide.
Five minutes before the break there was a major turning point in the game as Mariani sent Malick Thiaw off. A ball in behind saw Kean get goalside of the German and he hauled him down, with the referee quickly producing a red card for what he deemed to be a last-man challenge.
Christian Pulisic was the man who Pioli decided to sacrifice in order to bring on another centre-back, and it was Pierre Kalulu who came on to slot in next to Fikayo Tomori.
Kean should have sent Juventus in a goal up at the break when we has was found with a perfect ball across the face of goal to the far post, yet the touch he provided somehow sent the ball wide.
Milan actually started the second half better and they earned a number of dangerous set piece situations but their delivery ultimately let them down each time, with the best cross being one that hit Mariani on the back of the head, drawing amusement.
Just before the hour mark, Pioli made a couple more changes as Rade Krunic came on for Adli and Luka Jovic took the place of Giroud, perhaps with an eye on the fixture in midweek.
In the 63rd minute, Juventus took the lead and it was against the run of play. Locatelli wound up for a shot from 30 yards out that deflected off Krunic’s knee and went in down the middle of the net given Mirante had already dived.
Milan continued to have the better of possession and Juve looked to get the second on the break, while Pioli made a couple of changes with just over 10 minutes left as Simon Kjaer and Luka Romero came on for Calabria and Reijnders.
Mirante made a good reaction save to deny Juventus substitute Vlahovic getting what would have been the killer goal inside the final five minutes.
The final chance of the game saw Mirante come to the rescue again, making a double save to deny Cambiaso’s curling shot and Vlahovic’s attempt to tuck in the rebound from a couple of yards out.
I’m not a Pioli hater, but today is game management was horrendous.
Screwed us up…Malik brain don’t work
Krunic touched the ball maybe 6 times.
2 complete passes. Then an own goal (unlucky) and 3 possesion losses. He had no business playing this game.
Many (most?) would be glad if he never entered the pitch again.
I’m one of those. We have Musa and Reijnders now, plus Bennacer returning soon. No need for Krunic to ever play again. But Pioli loves him. They both need to leave this club.
Many (most) would have been even happier if was sold in the summer.
To be honest, not surprised. I just want to understand how Jovic is standing ahead of Okafor in pecking order. Okafor had a decent form earlier and all of sudden he found himself in the back of Jovic who is playing like amateur player.
Who the **** fields Jovic instead of Okafor? Only a f*ng idiot. Pioli threw in the towel with that sub.
Might be the most frustrating defeat of the season, so unlucky to eat the goal even after defending so well.
Nice to see Krunic back at his own level. Zero passes forward and an awesome own goal. MOTM. No doubt about it.
His white knights are already out in full force saying nothing is his fault of course. Pathetic display…
Yeah. Being lucky/unlucky and having Krunic on the pitch are two very different things. (Bad) Luck happens once or twice a month, Krunic happens all the time.
I bet we had a Krunic doppelganger for a couple of months earlier this season but now the real deal is back.
I’ll never know why he had to take Adli off.
He can write me a 20 page essay on why he did it and i still wouldnt know why. Silly sub
Game-deciding sub yet no one on this planet understands why it was made.
Allegri went full Hulk on there. I’ve no idea what he was so mad about.
That was the only enjoyable thing to watch today. Truly insane!!! 😀 😀 😀
Locatelli’s celebration for the goal was so embarrassing. You hit a long shot and got a lucky deflection against a side playing with 10 and the club that brought you through and you’re supposed to be Italy’s biggest club blah blah. Always liked him as a player, but jeez that’s a pathetic lack of class.
Everything that could go wrong did for this one, both in build up and on the pitch. Not going to blame the guys on the pitch for the loss and I felt they played pretty well. Let’s call this balance for Juve being screwed around by the authorities last year and move on IMO.
People blaming Pioli or Krunic or whoever, you’re just seeing confirmation bias; it was 11v10 and a lucky goal away from a hard fought point. Move on to the next one.
Well scoring a goal against Milan might as well be his biggest achievement.
He is a Juventino & has all the rights to celebrate the way he wants.
As usual Milan lost after international break…. leao is not worth his new salary. Cannot deliver in big games
Exactly. Jovic had literally 0 contribution. Okafor was a beast last time he got some playing time.
Pioli wasn’t great today, but we controlled the game even with 10. We also controlled against Newcastle. We also controlled against Dortmund. Again today I saw some amazing passing work and running lines.
However we can’t produce.
This is a pattern that’s emerging and its not good for team morale let alone our goals.
Juve came to play park the bus, I really hope they get rid of Allegri asap, he played the same football when he was our coach and it got worse year after year.
Let’s be honest. Never mind pioli, krunic, jovetic(wtf??) – If that card didn’t take place we would never lost this game. Like never. We were in complete control. Stop making it about something else.
On top of that we missed what 2-3 keys starters. Annoying loose but honestly couldn’t have been worse. The fact that juve barely scored against us with 10vs11 for 55 minutes says a lot. If Theo , lofus, would have been playing from start this would have been completely different.
Jovetic. Man, haven’t heard that name for so long.
Pioli didn’t have to forfeit the match by putting in Krunic & Jovic. That killed any hope of winning the match.
… or even drawing.
The red from Thiaw was super stupid , Mirante was already getting there and even if not the angle was so sharp that he prob wouldnt have scored . Then there is Pioli HE IS THE MAN TO BLAME FOR THIS LOSS!! Subbing of Pulisic was idiotic and then taking of one of the bets players on the pitch (Adli) For F*CKING KRUNIC who then plays the most horrible game ive ever seen in a milan jersey and helps juve score that goal. AFTER THAT he subs on Jovic when he needs pace in the attack instead of okafor !!! Jovic hasnt made a single run in THE 2 GAMES he has played for milan. PIOLI NEEDS THE SACK IF HE MAKES ANOTHER DISASTER AT NAPOLI IDC IF HE BROUGHT US THE SCUDETTO HE HAS TO GO.
I verily say unto you brothers, I know not what Pioli sees in Krunic.
Some of my take from the match :
1. We should have won the match if the red card wasn’t happened, we dominate the match even after the red card, but unable to create clear chances.
2. Thiaw is still lacking experience, he can’t go like that against a faster attacker.
3. Tomori continue to impress, and imo Kalulu and Calabria also doing well tonight.
4. That Adli substitution was completely wrong. And possibly one of the reason we lost this match – Krunic clearly lacking match fitness and sharpness, his passing, movement, and reading of the game werent on point. And he isn’t offering anything at build up play tonight.
And that showed how little faith Pioli has for Adli – even when we dominate, still 0-0, and Adli keep making plays and do little wrong he turned to Krunic, someone who just return from injury, so quickly.
5. Mirante is actually decent backup, his saves was really good.
6. Reijnders wasn’t sharp tonight, many weaker touch and passing and generally looked… tired?
Anyway we lost the top spot, but it’s still 9th week. It’s not meantime much and not the end of the world, we will keep fighting.
Hopefully Thiaw can get some lesson from this match and will be back stronger… Kjaer can give him input on how to improve his game.
For adli substitute, i think pioli already targeting a draw result so he focus more on defense. With krunic who ussualy played safe and not as offensive as adli, milan can get draw result comfortably and focus on match vs PSG. When reijnders come off i believe pioli already given up this match because of course 10 vs 11 match is difficult and there is more crucial match vs PSG so he rested reijnders.
But of course that deflected goal is disappointing because even we cant win, we still can hope for 1 points.
Agreed AR. Let’s hope we do better the next two games
Mirante saves tonight shows that pioli is a bad coach for milan,he never give him chance,always played mediocre tatarusanu that cost us last season. The sub?,i cant remember the last time pioli make a good,after red card ,giroud have no business on the pitch again,jovic shouldnt coming after a shitty display against genoa,u dont need to hurridly remove adli who has played more than 3 matches for krunic who just recover.. A good coach whould have try pellegrino as left back and play the other guy as RB instead of calabria, giroud should always come in 2nd half,okafor as cf always. Well,we know the limit of an average coach but pioli is a worst average coach who doesnt read game at all.
We are missing something.
Botman instead of De Ketelaere and young powerfully centre forward.
Mirante was excellent 👌. Unfortunately for locateli and deflected shot and also we sold him very cheap.
Thiaw did good decision. It is red card Unfortunately but also our defence in total must be carefully and not just Thiaw.
Yes Botman would be far better signing than CDK.
That decision was the best he could take in that situation, but how he could get into that position in the first place is the problem. Showed his (understandably) lack of experience really.
I’m talking about Thiaw in the 2nd paragraph, in case someone wondering.
Thiaw was disastrous against Inter, and he was again this match. And we ended up losing both matches. Maybe it’s better to have Kjaer or Kalulu in this type of match.
That’s what Im thinking too. The big occasion seems to get the best of him
Pioli’s boyfriend Krunic sunk us – he should have never played after being out for a while, but Pioli just couldn’t wait to put him in. Adli was doing just fine. And why did he put Jovic in when he had Okafor on the bench??? WE NEED A NEW COACH! Thiaw dumb red card, his positioning was terrible on that play!
Spot on
I can see people asking for a new coach after / if we don’t make the UCL 2nd round. This game sucked, but we are just 1 point behind inter and in front of 2 better squads than ours. Not defending Pioli, he was bad today. Just not asking for his head.
“This game sucked”
Not really. It was very much under control even with 10 players. It was just Pioli’s idiotic subs and Krunic being Krunic that decided the match. Juve didn’t do anything even with a one-man-advantage.
Started with 11 men
Tiaw got a red so down to 10
Bring on krunic basically down to 9….
Great job pioli. Succeed at allowing Milan to fall to their rivals once again.
… And Jovic brought it down even further. Did anyone see him on the pitch?
I feel that after the red card, Kalulu should come in to replace Giroud instead of Pulisic, making it 4-3-2 and let Leao and Puli roam a bit more. Okafor can then sub one of them if there are signs of fatigue.
I know it’s polarized but one can’t deny that Pioli could often have done better in the game especially big ones…
Pioli just stupid at all. Thats its