AC Milan and Genoa played out a thriller on Sunday evening at San Siro, eventually drawing 3-3 after both teams had given away leads.
Genoa got themselves ahead first when Mateo Retegui converted a penalty after a clumsy foul by Fikayo Tomori, then Alessandro Florenzi headed in to make it 1-1. The visitors retook the lead through Caleb Ekuban as Milan’s defensive woes continued.
It looked like a Matteo Gabbia header and a volley from Olivier Giroud had bailed the Rossoneri out as they took a late 3-2 lead, yet Retegui popped up again to get another goal and ensure Genoa left with a share of the spoils.
An entertaining game for the neutrals without a doubt, but it does little to help the quest to secure second place in the table nor to ease the worries about letting in too many goals.
Stefano Pioli made several changes from the draw against Juventus as the likes of Theo Hernandez, Fikayo Tomori, Ismael Bennacer and Samuel Chukwueze came back into the side.
The away side were given the chance to start the game in the best possible way when Tomori gifted them a penalty. Vogliacco seemed to be heading to the byline but the centre-back stepped in and got his challenge wrong, and Retegui hammered in the spot kick to give Genoa the 1-0 lead.
Milan came very close to levelling the scoring in the 13th minute when Pulisic – who was playing in a more central role due to Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s injury – shifted the ball onto his right foot and laced a shot against the post which then rebounded to safety.
Genoa were able to sit a bit deeper to try and reduce the space available to the Rossoneri after they went a goal up, with a series of shots from distance coming around the midway point of the first half. Tijjani Reijnders had the best one but it was dragged comfortably wide of the post.
Vasquez produced a heroic last ditch tackle to deny Chukwueze who looked to have been put through on goal by Olivier Giroud’s flick, then at the other end Frendrup hit a first time shot that was curling away from Sportiello but also thankfully the far post too.
Milan’s first half was probably best symbolised by a chance that came with 10 minutes left until the break. A nice one-two saw Leao get into a dangerous position inside the box, yet his quickly flicked cross was taken off Giroud by Chukwueze and it came to nothing.
Moments later Leao would again dart in off the left and get himself into a good shooting position, though a deflection took the sting out of his effort and Martinez gathered.
The former RB Leipzig goalkeeper then made two excellent saves: the first was a diving stop to deny a Pulisic effort that was heading for the top corner, then from the resulting corner Gabbia’s downward header was miraculously clawed away on the line.
Milan did get themselves deservedly level right on the stroke of half-time and it came from an unlikely source. Chukwueze put in a brilliant cross from the right side and Florenzi was waiting near the penalty spot to head home and finally beat Martinez.
Milan came out for the second half still asleep, and Genoa used this to their advantage to get themselves back in front. A pinpoint cross from the right flank was met by the head of Ekuban, who found the back of the net as Sportiello stayed rooted.
It looked as though Chukwueze had restored parity almost immediately when he finished well from a tight angle into the far corner, yet the offside flag rightly went up and the goal had to be chalked off.
The frustration for the home fans continued to grow as Leao took aim from 30 yards and succeeded only in finding the second tier, and then Theo wasted a glorious chance on the counter, shooting straight at the goalkeeper when he had Giroud to his left and Chukwueze to his right.
Moments after Noah Okafor came off for Leao he should have had an assist for Giroud as he burst away down the right and squared to the Frenchman, who lifted the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper but well wide of the goal.
Just inside the final 20 minutes, Milan did get themselves back level and it came from another rather unlikely scorer in Gabbia. The centre-back rose highest to head a corner inside the far post, much to the frustration of Genoa who had been working hard to keep their lead.
Three minutes after Gabbia’s equaliser, Milan got themselves ahead for the first time in the game as Giroud took the next chance that came his way. Pulisic stood up a lovely cross to the far post where the 37-year-old was waiting to volley back across goal and inside the far post.
A triple change came inside the final few minutes: Bennacer, Florenzi and Chukwueze came off, with Yacine Adli, Pierre Kalulu and Malick Thiaw coming on. Meanwhile, the Curva Sud emptied out in protest against the club.
There would be yet another twist as Genoa made it 3-3 and it was comedy defending. Reijnders did not track Thorsby who centred a ball towards Retegui, who bundled in from close range despite the fact both Thiaw and Tomori were near him.
Another masterpiece substitution by Pioli.
I came to comment on the same thing lol. Never seen a coach do that this many times in a season. And it’s never when we’re up 5-1. Were up one goal and he changes a third of the team with very little time left. It’s wild, the game was very strange partly due to the protests but we did score some nice goals. Def talent in the team and puli leao chuck need to play together every game if possible. Excited to see what the next coach can get out of this group.
It’s not the subs. It’s the fact that no one has a clear idea of how to defend. No system in place. Just random pieces moving.
You can clearly saw that after Leao being subbed we instantly played much better and scored those 2 goals. Just to see the coach made weird substitution and made us play with 3 CBs (with 2 WBs). It’s hard enough to coordinate 2 CBs that rarely plays in pair regularly, adding more CB in the equation with weird positioning is just add more confusion.
It’s like he got one thing right just to see he got it all wrong on the next one. It’s like watching someone commiting suicide after all the hard works. And that’s not just this one game, but a whole season cycle.
It is not the system’s fault that Thiaw scored an own goal or that another player gave away a penalty. Yes, tactics have their share of the blame, but the fact of the matter is that apart from that scudetto 3 years ago, these players have won nothing at all. Unless the defensive part is renewed in the summer, no Pep or Klopp can make this Milan reach a level wanted by Milan fans.
The general idea made sense, add another defender to protect the lead, as well as some fresh legs in midfield to counter Genoa’s subs. The execution however was serie c level. I don’t take the blame off Pioli, but sometimes it seems that some of our guys just started playing football a year ago. Basic football brains, that’s what we are missing
I am f##cking done with this team.
I hope this will make then fire pioli directly. Can’t believe that he’s still the coach until the end of the season. Allow the new coach to come in already and filter through these garbage players. Kinda happy that we didn’t win today (did not think I would ever say that in my life) but I’m sick of Pioli getting these lucky wins and acting like it was due to “sacrifice” rather than luck.
I’ll say this one again: the departures of Tonali and Kessie have hurt us so bad in recent years. We lost total balance in the midfield.
The only one who can come right away is Lopetegui . Pretty sure none of us want it. Maybe they keep in silence because the coach they planing is still under contract.
By the way media is reporting that Leao when directly to the tunnels and left the stadium before the game ended. Idk if true this team is falling apart
If true, make it his end.
With that mildfield even Guardiola can’t do much.
Entertaining my a$$. I would prefer a 0-0 than this dumpster fire of a defensive performance, and really we fully deserved to loose with such amateur level defending.
There’s one way to describe AC Milan this season – cheap goal. Cheap cheap cheap goals. The cheapest they can get. I’ve been following this team for over 20 years, and I don’t remember a worst defensive Milan. It really seems that any serie c level team can have a go at us.
Gabbia and Tomori terrible, despite the former’s goal, and our midfield pair with absolutely disgraceful positioning in so many parts of the game (e.g. 47 minute, 2 and 3rd goal,…). The players take a lot of the blame, but Pioli deserves just as much. Disgraceful, disgusting, disrespectful.
Their 3rd goal wasn’t Retegui’s. It was an own goal by Thiaw who AGAIN cost us points. Why in the hell did Pioli need to bring Thiaw in? Thiaw needs to be sold.
Giroud was horrendous and missed a sitter. He redeemed himself partially by scoring, but I think if we had Okafor as striker from minute one we’d have won this game, given that Giroud wasted numerous attacks.
Other than Pioli’s stupid lineup, still starting Giroud, and bringing in Thiaw just to score an own goal, Tomori was also responsible for this loss. He committed a silly and reckless penalty foul, and failed in their second goal, too.
INCREDIBLE – My post wouldn’t go in because “You are posting too quickly” – I haven’t posted since yesterday. What’s wrong with this site???
To be fair he couldn’t have done anything. Tomori kicked it straight to him a yard from the goal. Tomori is the one to blame. He could have let it pass.
Short sided comment. Thiaw is part of a system that has been dysfunctional all season. Its not Thiaws fault.
The theme of the season has been “Ridiculous defending”.
i think the “posting too quickly” is more about how quickly you writes your post and the post it with name and email. but i might be wrong. always good to copy paste your comments or use the left corner left arrow to go back because then you wont lose what you wrote.
I think it has to do with the number of incoming comments all at once that overwhelms it.
It might be part of it but as it also happens fairly often when there doesnt seem to be much activity here i belive it goes beyond how many people who is trying to post.
It is just the website’s software being partly dysfunctional. There is no way users can avoid that.
Im generally of the view that it isnt of much use to sack a coach at this stage of the season and I also think pioli should be credited for the work he has done at the club and winning the scudetto but enough is enough sack the man tonight if not already done at this point of time. Thanks pioli but bye bye, let abate have the remaining matches it cant be worse than what we have seen for the last month or so.
😂 🤣 😂 🤣
Even the great Martin Bernhard, one of the most patient level headed fan here has given up on Pioli.
Says a lot. P. S I wonder if management will also share the blame in this season’s outcome.
Bennacer is a shadow of himself. This defense wouldn’t survive in Serie B. Where have the Italian defenders gone?? I love Leao but he needs to get out of his head and become a footballer. Okafor has more fire in him. We need to sell 4-5 players next season and get a mix of seasoned and promising players. Thanks for trying Pioli, but you don’t have what it takes to get the best out of players.
This season Bayern Munich and Milan have a weird way of defending.
As usual, we leak a lot of goals while scoring many. Tomori play badly today why is it that he is kept on the field when everyone else got substitute and all the 3 goals were directly and indirectly conceded by him.
The problem for Milan this season is not attacking sector, but it is the defending. Look at that Milan’s numbers of goal scored and goal conceded. Especially in Italy that known for great defending ala cattenaccio, it is unacceptable. To win scudetto, you can’t let that so many goals conceded.
The fact that we’re somehow second with our horrible horrible defensive game says a lot about the rest of serie a as well. We are lucky Juve, Rome, Napoli, and Atlanta are also mediocre or worst, otherwise no UCL as well