AC Milan emerged from another head-to-head clash against a direct rival for the Scudetto with nothing but regrets as they lost 1-0 to Juventus last night.
Calciomercato.com recall the somewhat strange circumstances of last night’s game, where Milan played with their third-choice 40-year-old goalkeeper, went down to 10 men, played better and were in the end beaten by a shot that took a huge deflection.
Milan were a man down for over half of the game due to Malick Thiaw’s red card and yet Juve looked second best for most of it. Despite having numerical superiority, Max Allegri had no desire to change the tactical plan prepared for the match.
He wanted to defend and counter, to not take any risk and to prevent danger first, and at the end of the game when his team were passing it around a goal up his frustration boiled over, with the Juve coach ripping off his jacket and tie.
Milan didn’t create lots of clear cut chances before the red card but Szczesny did brilliantly to deny Olivier Giroud’s low angled shot. Aside from Rafael Leao, Pioli’s team were monotonous and predictable against a deep Bianconeri side who looked comfortable watching their hosts pass it around.
As for the red card, Thiaw does everything a defender should not do. He let Moise Kean get in front of him, he allows the ball to go past him and to stop the Italian’s run towards Mirante he grabs him and drags him to the ground.
That forced Christian Pulisic to come off for Pierre Kalulu, who hadn’t played for two months, and Kean had the immediate opportunity to give Juventus the lead which he missed, letting Tomori and Florenzi off the hook.
Allegri put Vlahovic and Cambiaso on to try to win the match, while Pioli responded with Jovic and Krunic and managed to lose it. Yacine Adli was by far the best of the midfielders on the pitch as per the report, so taking him off was a mistake.
It was unlucky but it could be said that Krunic coming on resulted in a defeat, Milan’s second in the league, and now a response is needed in the two big games to come.
