AC Milan were held to a 1-1 draw by Atalanta at San Siro on Sunday night, letting a lead slip and conceding yet another penalty.
The game could hardly have started better for Milan when Rafael Leao fired them into the lead inside the opening few minutes with an excellent whipped shot.
However, Atalanta pegged the Rossoneri back from the penalty spot as Olivier Giroud was penalised after a VAR check for a high boot inside the box, and Teun Koopmeiners scored his third goal of the season against Milan.
A goalless second half followed, meaning that the Diavolo were forced to settle for a point against La Dea which keeps them seven points behind in the table.
Stefano Pioli made four changes to the starting line-up from the defeat against Rennes in midweek as Malick Thiaw, Yacine Adli, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Olivier Giroud all coming into the side.
It took Milan just three minutes to open the scoring, as Rafael Leao’s Serie A goal drought finally came to an end. A darting run in off the left saw him get past Scalvini and Holm, then he opened up his body and whipped a beautiful shot inside the far post with Carnesecchi rooted.
Milan continued to press high and cause problems for the away side, and when a corner from the right was cleared to the edge of the box Theo Hernandez might have hoped to do better than firing over the bar.
Gasperini’s men went in search of an equaliser, and Djimsiti’s near post flick from a corner was not far from finding the bottom corner but thankfully went about a yard wide.
Atalanta had a chance to get themselves back level when De Ketelaere stole possession from Pulisic and he dribbled back towards goal and then squared for Koopmeiners, but Yacine Adli recovered and made an excellent challenge to stop the shot threatening goal.
In the 41st minute, Atalanta were given the opportunity to equalise from the spot after VAR called the referee over to check a potential high boot from Olivier Giroud on Koopmeiners. The call seemed harsh, but the Dutch midfielder dusted himself down and converted down the middle of the goal from 12 yards.
The opening exchanges of the second half were scrappy, with both sides working the ball into wide areas well but ultimately failing to provide deliveries with much quality.
A few minutes before the hour mark, Pioli made his first change as Alessandro Florenzi was withdraw in place of Calabria.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek had a quiet 60 minutes prior, but he worked a chance for himself to shoot just inside the edge of the area though his low shot was easily gathered by Carnesecchi.
Milan had a big chance to get themselves back in the lead after a lovely move from left to right that saw the ball worked to Calabria who was in space, yet he opted to cut inside on his left foot rather than take it first time on his right and the shot was thwarted.
Christian Pulisic was inches away from scoring what would have been a splendid goal after a lovely angled ball in behind which he brought down with his thigh and stabbed just wide of the far post.
Carnesecchi was called into action by Loftus-Cheek again with 14 minutes left on the clock, and this time it was a much more difficult attempt to deal with as his fierce attempt was rising sharply, but he just about parried it away.
The balls in behind the outside centre-backs continued to cause issues for Atalanta, and it was Leao who got on the end of one and poked an effort at Carnesecchi which squirmed past him, then Giroud’s rebound effort was headed off the line. Replays did show Leao might have been a yard offside.
Pioli made a change in midfield inside the final 15 minutes, with Yunus Musah coming on for Bennacer. In the final minutes, Noah Okafor replaced Pulisic.
