Juventus 0-0 AC Milan: Bianconeri and Rossoneri play out dreadful draw

AC Milan and Juventus played out a very dull 0-0 draw at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday evening, in what was far from a great advert for Serie A.

Juve perhaps had the better of the chances as Milan had the late stand-in goalkeeper Marco Sportiello to thanks for a couple of good stops and also Malick Thiaw from clearing a shot off the line late on.

Keeping a clean sheet with a patched together defence will certainly please Stefano Pioli, but it was far from a positive spectacle in general with both sides really lacking in quality.

It is certainly a better draw for the Rossoneri than for their hosts given that the points gap remains, and now it will be some task for Juve to snatch second in the table.

There were multiple changes from the defeat to Inter on Monday night as Olivier Giroud came back in to lead the line, Malick Thiaw and Alessandro Florenzi came into the back four and Marco Sportiello started in goal because Mike Maignan suffered an injury in the warm-ups.

It was the kind of cagey opening that you might expect from two sides who are not exactly full of confidence. The first shot on goal went to Juventus as Vlahovic managed to separate himself from Matteo Gabbia before firing at Sportiello from a narrow angle, but he saved it easily.

In the 15th minute Juve had another opportunity when Gatti was allowed plenty of space to shoot from around 20 yards out having walked out from the defence, though thankfully he laced it well over the bar.

It continued to be a game lacking in quality and any real tempo, with the perfect symbol perhaps being when Malick Thiaw did well to recover a ball and Christian Pulisic led a counter, with Rafael Leao picking up the ball in a central area 25 yards out but dragging his shot well wide.

There was a decent opportunity for Milan just before the half-hour mark when Florenzi to the near post was met by Gabbia, who nevertheless directed his header well wide of the target.

The first save that either keeper had to make came in added time when Vlahovic drew a free-kick after being bundled over by Musah. The striker took the shot on himself and it deflected through the wall, drawing a good low stop from Sportiello.

Sportiello produced a fantastic double save to deny Juve early in the second half. The first shot came from the left corner of the box and was aimed at his near post but was parried away, then the ball landed straight to Danilo who was just a few yards out and looked certain to score yet was thwarted by a brilliant reaction stop.

Pioli made a change in the 62nd minute with Adli withdrawn for Ismael Bennacer, while Allegri decided to bring on Chiesa and Milik.

Both sides found themselves limited largely to shots from distance, but Loftus-Cheek wasn’t far away from finding the corner with an effort from just over 20 yards out that dipped just before the goalkeeper, though it did graze just wide.

With just under 20 minutes left, Noah Okafor came off the bench to replace Giroud who had just taken a nasty knock in a challenge moments prior.

Milik nearly got a goal off the bench when an excellent cross from the left flank was met by the head of the Poland international who made good contact and aimed it downwards, but Sportiello was equal to it and gathered well.

At one end Gabbia did brilliantly to stop Milik latching onto a low cross from Chiesa, and then at the other end a firm block was required from Bremer to prevent Leao’s shot from troubling Szczesny after he had cut into the box.

Three more substitutions came inside the last 10 minutes as Loftus-Cheek, Musah and Pulisic were withdrawn for Kevin Zeroli, Davide Bartesaghi and Samuel Chukwueze.

Thiaw was the hero for Milan in the final five minutes as he made a clearance on the line. A header back across goal from McKennie was not properly claimed by Sportiello and that presented the chance to Rabiot, who did divert the ball towards goal but the German defender was waiting to deny the attempt.