AC Milan suffered the embarrassment of handing Udinese their first win of the season as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at San Siro on Saturday night.
The only goal of the game came in the second half when Ebosele went down inside the area and the spot kick was controversially given and upheld, with Roberto Pereyra keeping his cool from 12 yards.
There was no late barrage from Milan either really as they struggled to combine quality with urgency, though Marco Silvestri did make some smart stops to deny mostly speculative efforts.
The defeat means that the Rossoneri are now six points behind city rivals Inter and could fall five points behind Juventus if they win, with a top four battle looking more likely than any Scudetto fight.
Stefano Pioli sprung a bit of a surprise with his starting line-up as he went with two strikers in Luka Jovic and Olivier Giroud, while Theo Hernandez did not even make the bench due to an ankle issue with Alessandro Florenzi taking his spot.
Milan had nine absentees due to injury coming into the game, and there was a moment of worry early on when Florenzi had a rough tussle down the left side which saw him get up limping and he struggled to shake it off but did eventually.
Udinese had the first big chance of the game and it was nearly an opening goal handed to them by the shaky-looking Florenzi. Zemura ran into space down the left side and provided a cut-back from the byline that was to nobody, but Florenzi’s clearance presented the ball to Pereyra who fired well over from inside the box.
The opening 20 minutes of the game was laboured and lacking in quality from Milan, and the crowd didn’t take long to express their discontent at the misplaced passes. Rade Krunic went into the book for a mistimed tackle around 25 yards from goal, which was a symbol of the nervous atmosphere.
Krunic had a big chance to make amends for his caution when a corner met his head at the near post in the 21st minute, yet the Bosnian put it wide despite being uncontested.
A few minutes later Davide Calabria had chance to let fly from just outside the box having been found in space in a central position, though Silvestri did well to parry his effort at full stretch given the pace it was hit with.
Leao got his first sight at goal just after the half-hour mark as he got in isolation with Perez and managed to cut inside onto his right foot inside the area, though his attempt was well wide and over.
Silvestri was called into another save a couple of minutes later, this time from Yunus Musah’s left-footed shot after he made a dart inside from the right wing.
Florenzi should really have netted the opening goal and it could well have been a stunner. A low cross into the box from the left from Leao saw the full-back control it with a flick-and-spin that would have had him one-on-one had he not slipped at the vital moment.
Pioli made a couple of changes after a sluggish first half as Yacine Adli came on in midfield for Krunic, while Noah Okafor took the place of Jovic.
The away side had the first concrete opportunity of the second half as a corner was glanced on and found an unmarked Kabasele at the far stick, though he couldn’t react fast enough to divert it goalwards.
At the other end Reijnders had a chance to hope his account for Milan as he ran in behind and tried to dink the ball over the onrushing Silvestri but he too cold not find the target, missing the near post.
There was a hugely controversial moment right on the hour mark as Ebosele made a darting run into the box and went down when Adli stuck out a boot, and though the Milan team were furious about the decision and the replays appeared to suggest there was barely any contact, the decision stood. Pereyra took on the responsibility from the spot, and sent Maignan the wrong way.
Midway through the second half, Reijnders made way for Ruben Loftus-Cheek who made his long-awaited return from injury.
Maignan made a good low stop to deny the away side making it 2-0 when Success rose to meet a header at the far post, with the Milan fans beginning to get very restless.
With the game drifting towards a rather embarrassing conclusion, Luka Romero was brought on in Musah’s place on the right as Milan switched to what looked like a 4-2-4.
Milan finally managed to provide Giroud with a good bit of service in the final minute of normal time through Leao’s in-swinging cross, but Silvestri was equal to it with a brilliant sprawling stop. From the resulting corner, Florenzi had a shot deflected wide of the near post.
Silvestri once again denied Florenzi’s half-volley at full stretch in added time, as it became clear it would not be Milan’s night.
