It was all going so well for AC Milan after 45 minutes of their clash with Napoli at the Maradona last night, but a second half collapse has again left a bitter taste.
Today’s edition of Corriere della Sera (via PianetaMilan) talks about the game of two halves that took place between Napoli and Milan, saying that the draw is sacrosanct in the end because neither team would have deserved the victory.
The home side rose from hell in the second half against a Rossoneri team who threw it away, potentially thinking at 0-2 that they had done enough to earn the three points.
The draw is a result that is of no use to either Rudi Garcia or Stefano Pioli, except to avoid another difficult week from a personal point of view. Milan had to do without Pierre Kalulu in the first half, while Christian Pulisic and Kalulu’s replacement Marco Pellegrino also came off.
After a balanced start to the game, Milan went two goals in front thanks to two almost carbon copy headers from Olivier Giroud who got the better of Amir Rrahmani, but Napoli revived themselves.
Eljif Elmas, Mario Rui and Rrahmani came off at half-time with Giovanni Simeone , Mathías Olivera and Leo Østigård coming on. It was turning point: Matteo Politano scored first, then Giacomo Raspadori’s excellent free-kick levelled things.
At the end, when the match was open to any result, Pioli called Giroud and Rafael Leão to the bench, receiving the annoyance of both. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia nearly won it in the end after Natan’s late red card, which would have sent Milan into a real crisis.