AC Milan made very hard work of things against a struggling Spezia side at San Siro but a late goal from Olivier Giroud earned them all three points.
Milan had enough chances to put the game to bed in the first half and should have been out of sight in truth, though Theo Hernandez’s excellent control and finish deep in the box did send Stefano Pioli’s men in 1-0 up at the break.
There was a remarkable moment in the second half as Daniel Maldini equalised against his parent and boyhood club with a lovely curling effort, but it was Olivier Giroud who came off the bench to win it in the final moments with a superb volley before being sent off for taking his shirt off.
The result means that the Rossoneri have jumped into second spot after Atalanta lost to Napoli earlier in the evening, to whom their remains a six-point gap.
Pioli chose to make four changes to the starting line-up that beat Red Bull Salzburg 4-0 in midweek as Matteo Gabbia came into the back four, Rade Krunic started in midfield with Brahim Diaz the attacking midfielder, Junior Messias got the nod on the right wing and Divock Origi started up front.
Milan created some danger inside the opening minute as the ball was worked quickly out to Rafael Leao on the left wing through Brahim Diaz, and the winger wound up an early cross that was sent looping wide.
The Rossoneri continued to have the better of the early chances and in the sixth minute Brahim will feel that he should have done better when he let fly from just over 20 yards out and sent a shot nearly into the second tier despite being in space.
Spezia then had a good spell themselves in which they drew the first real save of the game from Ciprian Tatarusanu after Jakub Kiwior’s shot from range, and Mattia Caldara’s near post flick from a corner required the Romanian to make a reaction parry.
Leao went on a brilliant run evading multiple challenges to get into the box and square to the rather surprising figure of Fikayo Tomori who had sprinted up from is own half, but Dragowski denied his low shot.
The chances kept flowing for Pioli’s men as Rade Krunic rattled the woodwork with a fierce half volley from inside the box after a cross was cleared to him, and then Leao crossed for Brahim Diaz whose header at the far post was again saved. Junior Messias then tried his luck from distance and Dragowski was forced to palm a stinging shot over the bar.
Milan finally did take the lead in the 21st minute, but it took until the 26th minute for the goal to be given after what must be the longest check in VAR history. A lovely ball over the top from Ismael Bennacer was chested down by Theo Hernandez who stabbed home from close range having been played onside by Kiwior, clearly by the finest of margins.
Milan were given a scare when Kalulu made an error while trying to play out from the back, but Krunic was on hand to thwart Daniel Maldini in the penalty area. Up at the other end Bennacer nearly provided Theo with another assist as a dinked ball over the top was hit first time by the Frenchman across goal, but in the end it was easily saved.
Tatarusanu had a hairy moment just before the break as he came rushing 20 yards off his line to try and beat Nzola to a long ball over the top and was second to it yet the Angolan sliced his effort behind from a narrow angle as he rushed to get a shot off.
There was chaos before the break as Milan should have doubled their lead and then should have gone in level. A left-footed shot from Leao was deflected by Caldara’s onto the crossbar and Krunic’s follow-up was desperately cleared, while at the other end Nzola had a golden chance to level with a low cross that found him six yards out but he reacted late and flicked it wide.
A surprising change was made at the half-time interval by Pioli as Bennacer made way for Sandro Tonali despite the fact the Algerian had virtually run the game from the midfield.
Milan began the second half better as Dragowski was forced into two saved in the opening five minutes, the first from Messias’ curling effort and the second from a low Origi drive that was heading to the far corner.
While the game was 1-0 there was still a feeling of being on edge and Ekdal reminded everyone why as he stole in for a near post header from Holm’s cross. He should have hit the target but directed it wide.
A simply remarkable moment came not long after that missed chance as Daniel Maldini scored against his boyhood club with a beautiful finish. He picked of the ball on the left side of the box and curled an effort around two defenders that Tatarusanu simply watched nestle inside the far post.
There was more VAR drama five minutes after Spezia had levelled as Milan thought they had got themselves back into the lead when Sandro Tonali swept a shot into the top corner from 25 yards out from Origi’s pass, however the review showed that Tomori had fouled Nzola in the build-up and it was chalked off after a lengthy check.
A triple change came in the 71st minute from Milan as Olivier Giroud, Charles De Ketelaere and Ante Rebic came on for Origi, Brahim Diaz and Messias.
There was a flashpoint eight minutes before the end of the 90 as Nzola clashed initially with Tonali and then with Theo Hernandez before a big group of players from both sides started pushing and shoving. Theo was given a yellow card so will miss the next game, while Giroud and Nzola also went into the book.
As the minutes ticked down Milan committed more and more bodies forward, with Caldara rightly celebrating a phenomenal block to deny De Ketelaere after Giroud’s knock-down found him at the far post.
In the final minute of normal time, Milan got themselves back into the lead through super substitute Giroud. Milan won the ball back deep inside Spezia’s half thanks to Kalulu’s challenge and Tonali clipped a gorgeous cross into the box where the French striker was waiting to finish with a simply stunning volley.
The last chance of the game went to the away side as a corner was flicked on and was gratefully grasped by Tatarusanu after a ricochet that could have taken the ball anywhere.
Var killed the whole thing and Milan without Benacer cant do anything. This was spezia ffs 😀
One more proof that Bennacer is the MVP of this team.
And one more proof that Milan REALLY need to work on killing the game when they lead 1-0. Embarrasing to have to climb back after losing 4-5 great chances and conceding.
Let’s dedicate this goal to all Tonali haters, eh? Such a shame the referee couldn’t find a reason to disallow Giroud’s goal too.
I’m certain this was one of the worst refereeing we’ve witnessed this year – maybe even the worst. How the F*** can these clowns get to whistle in a professional league?!
A good assist doesn’t magically make him an amazing player. Tonal is decent, but hugely overrated by Rossoneri and Italian people.
Good players show up when needed. A goal and an assist when needed. That’s quality!
The referees tried their best but we still won somehow. Still, every game against small teams is a torture and every time we play without Bennacer we get completely dominated.
That Giroud goal will make both Zlatan an jealous though.
Var spending 4 minutes trying to find a centimetre to disallow the goal really set the tone for the game.
Indeed. They really need to change the rules. If you can’t see in 10 seconds whether it’s offside or not, the goal should stand. The marginal gain from a possible 1cm advantage would never “make it or break it” anyhow so this just wasting everyone’s time and ruining the whole match.
No Kjaer no clean-sheet. And the referee gave too many cards in this game, couldn’t really control the whole match situation.
Shameful refereeing. Almost coat us another game. Serie A is an absolute joke letting this kind of refereeing slide
I rarely complaints about the refs but he was detrimental to the entire match and so was var and im not necessarily talking about the goal disallowed but the fact that a 5 minute var decision completely messed with our rhytmn at a point when we was pretty much dominating spezia + the fact that he made several dubious decisions throughout the entire match.
It was also clear he was in over his head in how to handle this match and propably should praise himself lucky that he didnt cost us the match,
Personally im actually glad that maldini scored but would have hoped it had happened at a 4-0 lead which in my opinion wouldnt have been too unreasonable either at that point.
Anyways we should have had a big lead at half time so the fact that we struggeled this much we can also thank ourselves.
They say Sandro Tonali is just physical and grit(grinta). That he lacks vision and technique…..I just hope after today’s game, he should finally be acknowledged and respected as a complete midfielder and a star indeed. Forza Milan!
I find it astonishing that our second goal was disallowed. It seems to me they looked very hard for an angle from where it seemed Tomori touched only the attacker’s leg. Interestingly if you replay the action from the normal tv veiw, it could have been seen the attacker was going towards the center and when Tomori intervened the ball changed its path and went 90 degree the other way. Now this can happen if Tomori kicks the attacker leg (which did not happen since he stepped on his leg) or Tokori kicks the ball. Since Tomori stepped on the attacker leg it means he must have kicked the ball before. Usually there as allowed to play on.. Maybe the foul was severe but surely Tomori touched the ball first.. i would have given the goal :):)
What can I say …I thought we were pretty poor tonight against a team that should have been easy ..We made so many mistakes and looked edgy at times ,but that said we won ..What can I say that I,ve not sad so many times before ,,OLIVIER GIROUD is world class .yes world class ,inside the 18 yard area he is above anyone else ..at 36 years of age he is as sharp as a razor .When Olivier plays we look a much better balanced team ..He should have started this match alongside the impressive TONALI
What a spectacular goal it was from GIROUD what a bargain buy he was …Yes he should have known better than get sent of for two stupid yellow cards ,
and of course the red ,which means he will miss the next game ..Yes of course he was excited so was I watching the game ..Surly now he had booked his name in the France squad for the World Cup ..
Lots more goals from this man .