AC Milan threw away more valuable points on Sunday afternoon as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Sassuolo at San Siro.
Things started terribly for Milan as Ismael Kone put the away side into the lead, but a Davide Bartesaghi brace turned the game on its head and looked to have the Rossoneri heading towards securing top spot for another week.
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However, Armand Lauriente came off the bench to equalise inside the final 20 minutes and the points were shared. It is yet another frustrating result for Milan, after previously dropping points to Cremonese, Parma and Pisa.
Massimiliano Allegri made one change to the starting line-up from the team that came from two goals down to beat Torino on Monday night, with Rafael Leao missing out due to the injury he picked up in the first half.
Milan started the game on the front foot and pressed high up the field, but Alexis Saelemaekers was guilty of being a bit over-enthusiastic with his first challenge of the game, scything down Muharemovic as he tried to play out and earning a yellow card.
Sassuolo took the lead inside the 13th minute with what was their first moment of danger. It was a goal of real quality from Kone who – after a give-and-go on the edge of the box – surged past Matteo Gabbia and lifted the ball over Mike Maignan from a narrow angle.
The first yellow cards of the game came around the midway point of the first half. Ruben Loftus-Cheek was booked for a challenge on Matic, while Fadera was given a yellow card for bringing down Strahinja Pavlovic in open play.
Milan really should have got themselves back level just before the half-hour mark when Adrien Rabiot successfully won the ball back off his man right on the edge of the Sassuolo box, taking a touch to set himself up but shooting straight at Muric. He then had a follow-up attempt after Christopher Nkunku had squared to him, but the offside flag went up.
In the 34th minute, Milan got themselves level and it was a special moment for Davide Bartesaghi, who got his first ever goal for the senior side. The feed came from Loftus-Cheek, who hit a low cross-shot that fizzed across the edge of the six-yard box, and the wing-back arrived at the far post to fire into almost an empty net.
Within two minutes of the restart, Milan went ahead and it was Bartesaghi who got his second of the afternoon. Rabiot fired the ball into Christopher Nkunku, who laid it off to the wing-back as he made a run into the box. The shot was aimed at the near post rather than across goal, and it snuck in thanks to a very precise finish.
There was a moment of panic when Matteo Gabbia appeared to jam his knee when making a defensive intervention and went down in pain. He managed to play on for a few minutes before being replaced by Koni De Winter.
Milan thought that they had made it 3-1 just a few minutes before the hour mark when Strahinja Pavlovic rose highest to head towards the far corner and Pulisic bundled in the rebound, however it was disallowed for an apparent push in the build-up.
The Rossoneri had the ball in the back of the net once again when Rabiot poked in from just a couple of yards out, though the offside flag went up and – after a lengthy VAR review – the decision was upheld. There were question marks about whether the ball was going in anyway and if the Frenchman needed to add a touch.
Another change came in the 73rd minute, with Pulisic making way for Samuele Ricci. That saw Loftus-Cheek partner Nkunku in the front two.
After having come off the bench, Lauriente drew Sassuolo level in the 76th minute. It was a lovely give-and-go with Pinamonti on the left side of the box, and the winger curled inside the far post with a precise finish having got past Fikayo Tomori.
Sassuolo pushed forward in search of a winner, and wanted a penalty after Lauriente went down under a challenge from Tomori at the far post, after a Rabiot giveaway in a dangerous area had invited pressure from the cross.
It continued to be the away side with the momentum, and Lauriente was again at the heart of the danger, leading a breakaway with a couple of minutes left and rattling the base of the post with a fierce shot.
As the clock struck 90, Allegri made two more changes as Alexis Saelemaekers and Bartesaghi were withdrawn for Zachary Athekame and Pervis Estupinan.
There was a final chance for Milan right at the end of six minutes added when a low cross was flicked by Nkunku and looked to be heading inside the far post but it just drifted wide.
I am not surprised by alegri foolish football dis man is a disgrace to football
Bad game management from Allegri. Bad defending from De Winter (sorry but he hasn’t been a good signing). Nkunku growing but we need more from him. Not a scudetto worthy team. We need a better CB and a 9 (no zirkzee no fullkrug)
Man. We may win the league, but I hate Allegri ball. 0 enjoyment watching Milan as a team. You can only enjoy some players individual performances. Why did he sub Pulisic?
Assume he’s still not 100% after the flu that was effecting before the last game.
Probably felt sorry for Sassuolo for not being in the game and decided to give them a chance?
If Bartesaghi didn’t have a god mode game today we would have lost
Allegri does not like a comfortable win. He has always invited pressure once he is a goal up. Unfortunately in modern football you cannot play to defend a one goal lead especially as we do not have world class players.
Wake up mr allegri.
Sam issues small team big problems I wonder how we goin to win the league like this
We won’t win the league without a center forward.
Did anyeone noticed the referee’s bad officiating this afternoon? At a time, I do hate watching serie a to an extent, imagine throwing up 3 precious points to mediocre teams!! De winter is just a disgrace to Milan shirt seriously,am really in bad mood,
damn!!
How could you NOT notice it? It wasn’t a football match but a fng ballerina dive-off. He who dived first got every call. Fng disgrace.
We are playing with ten men. Nkunku was useless. This was a step back from Torino where he made an awful mistake. Nkunku just doesn’t contribute to anything, absolutely woeful!
Nkunku had a nice assist on the 2nd goal and almost won the game with a flick. He wasn’t the problem. Our porous backline was.
agree. It was a slow start but he had good moments and is doing the CF roll that nobody in the squad is suited to.
“almost won the game with a flick”
Almost winning the matches without scoring where a decent player would have scored doesn’t win us matches.
Agree. I was responding to a commenter who said was useless.
Great game by Bartesaghi. Sadly, Milan threw away another opportunity for 3 points. The backline once again didn’t pick up runners into the box.
Scratching my head over why Allegri pulled Pulisic and not Modric. Modric’s effectiveness has fallen off dramatically. It was clear that Allegri was putting on another midfielder to control the game but it effectively reduced the likelihood that Milan could score a winner if Sasssuolo equalized. Which is exactly what happened.
More appropriate question is WTF was Nkunku left on the pitch while Pulisic was taken off? For Nkunku to look for himself in the shadows? He makes me miss Origi who was a proper baller compared to Nkunku!!! 🤦♂️
Pretty much a kick to the gut. Extremely disappointed as we simply should be able to do better and in the end we can also praise ourselves lucky that we didn’t lose with that goalpost hit and potential penalty kick.
Why the hell we go deep in our territory when the score is only 2-1 up…
There always be some moment our opponent find the hole in our back line when we sit deep like this…
The ref changed the game from football to ballet. The “man” was an absolute joke. The “push” that canceled the 3-1 goal was a joke. All the diving on the pitch and getting awarded with a freekick for them was a disgrace.
And FU to Allegri. Subbing Pulisic was like waving a white flag. WTF was Nkunku left on pitch? Name one thing he’s better at than Pulisic besides diving. I’m waiting…
2 points wasted. EVERYTHING was under control for 60 minutes but then Allegri peed his pants and gifted the dominance to Sassuolo who had done nothing prior that. And subbing off Pulisic was really the icing on the cake.
I’ll answer that bb, general speaking better at slacking off and being invisible on the pitch while looking like a fish out of water. Despite his assist I simply can’t understand the reasoning for bringing him to the club. I probably wouldn’t even have paid 20 mil for him but we ended up paying twice as much when we instead should have bought a strong striker of some size.
Indeed! He’s tiny, easily pushed aside even without all the diving, he’s slow, has a below-average first (two) touch(es) etc. How on Earth did anyone get fooled thinking he’d be a great purchase for us?!!!
And let’s not get carried away with his assist. It was a very basic pass to his teammate and he should be giving those passes like 20 per match yet it was probably his first useful pass whole season. So, yeah, he got an assist but it’s not like he should have been awarded the MOTM for it. 😂
And no, it doesn’t mean he proved he’s a superstar and worth keeping. 🤦♂️
Terrible defending on the two goals. Defenders just not tracking runners and giving them a clear chance with only Mike to beat.
Gabbia on the first and I think Tomori on the second. Similar action.
But let’s also give credit to Sassuolo players too. Both were beautiful link-up plays from a team that attacked as a team. I can only think of ONE similar goal Milan has scored in the last year or so and it was the one a week or two ago where Tomori sent the ball to Pulisic in front of the net.
Now that we’re regularly conceding, this 532 simply has no merit (no I won’t call it a 352 when we play a CB on the left and with 9 men behind the ball). It was bad enough when we were fluking some results, but this is the most consistently bad I’ve seen Milan play in years. We’ve had ONE genuinely good game all season (away to Udinese).
And I keep bringing it back to Tare botching the attack, we let go of FIVE forwards and brought in ONE. We need to switch back to 433 and get at least 2 forwards in January, a winger and a striker & get Leao and Nkunku where they belong, on the left. I still can’t get my head around not even keeping one of Jimenez, Chukwueze & Okafor. They would have papered over a lot of cracks.
Oh and we’re also wasting a year (maybe 2) of the prime of two midfielders we signed for a combined 60m so that Allegri can give the 40 year old free transfer 90 minutes every week.
Unbeleiveable
“And I keep bringing it back to Tare botching the attack, we let go of FIVE forwards and brought in ONE.”
Well… We needed a CF and got nothing. Wasted all the money on a useless whateverthefck-Nkunku-is-supposed-to -be-but-striker-he-isn’t!
I will put this on Rabiot. He was greedy in the first half as he could have pass the second ball to Pulisic for a easy tap in after he lost the first goal attempt.
Secondly he shouldn’t have involved in RCL header to caught offside on Pulisic goal ruled out.
And he almost cause another goal but thanks to Tomori.