AC Milan dropped points for the second time in their first four games as they were held to a rather disappointing 0-0 draw away against Sassuolo on Tuesday evening.
It was certainly a far cry from the game that took place in May when Milan romped to a 3-0 win to seal the Scudetto, with the Rossoneri struggling to find the quality needed in the right moments to unlock the Sassuolo defence.
In the end it was the home side who will be kicking themselves that they didn’t snatch all three points as Domenico Berardi – who later limped off in tears with a knee injury – missed a penalty kick in the first half.
It is not the kind of result that generates great momentum heading into the derby against Inter on Saturday, though there were starts for some players who needed minutes in their legs.
Head coach Stefano Pioli made five changes to the starting line-up that emerged victorious against Bologna on Saturday, with Alessandro Florenzi, Simon Kjaer, Tommaso Pobega, Alexis Saelemaekers and Brahim Diaz coming into the side.
It was a scrappy opening to the game from both sides with plenty of misjudged passes skidding too fast along the rain-soaked turf, but Milan had the first clear chance. The high press won the ball back inside Sassuolo’s half and the ball deflected into a dangerous area after Rafael Leao slipped a pass to Tommaso Pobega, but the Portuguese winger fired well over as the ricochet fell to him around 15 yards out.
Leao certainly came a lot closer in the 12th minute when he seized a poor pass from Berardi and dashed towards goal, letting fly with his right foot and fizzing an effort a few yards above the upright.
Milan continued to have the better of the opportunities and Brahim Diaz showed his threat by spinning Thortsvedt and letting fly from just outside the box with a low shot that rolled just past the far post.
It was Sassuolo who got the chance to take the lead from the penalty spot though in the 22nd minute. Berardi went down in between challenges from Florenzi and Saelemaekers, and it was the winger who took the responsibility, but Mike Maignan was equal to the attempt with a diving parry to his right.
The pitch continued to wreak havoc as balls skidded and skipped across, and Ismael Bennacer was a lucky man to see his miscontrol inside the box with 10 minutes remaining in the first half end with Kyriakopoulos missing the target.
The Rossoneri’s decision making continued to let them down as a huge counter-attack chance was squandered in the 40th minute. Brahim Diaz ran with the ball on the break and with options to both sides plus only two defenders in front of him he fed Florenzi, whose dinked cross fell to Giroud, but the Frenchman chested the ball down and volleyed wide.
Five minutes into the second half and with both sides having not made a substitution at the interval, Sassuolo were forced into a change as Berardi was bundled over by Theo Hernandez after a run in behind. The offside flag had gone up to negate any chance of a foul, so the winger limped off being replaced by Defrel.
A triple substitution was ordered five minutes before the hour mark by Pioli as Charles De Ketelaere, Sandro Tonali and Junior Messias came on for Brahim Diaz, Pobega and Saelemaekers respectively.
Not long after that there was a brief moment of concern when Maignan landed awkwardly after jumping over Tomori to claim a throw-in but thankfully the Frenchman ended up being ok.
Milan had a succession of several corners within the stretch of a few minutes but they failed to capitalise on any of them, with the most threatening delivery coming with 20 minutes left as a header at the near post found Leao at the far side of the box though his effort was blocked.
In the 73rd minute another change came as Giroud was withdrawn in place of Yacine Adli, meaning there was no recognised striker on the field. A final substitution came six minutes later as Simon Kjaer made way for Pierre Kalulu.
As the game drifted out towards the final whistle, the last bit of bad fortune came in the last minute of normal time as Florenzi pulled up having suffered a painful muscle injury. Milan were forced to complete the game with 10 men.
The final chance of the game came when De Ketelaere did well to cut a ball back to Leao on the edge of the box though Consigli was able to gather an effort with relative ease as the winger did not get as much power on it as he would have wanted.
