Udinese 1-1 AC Milan: Ibrahimovic scores in added time to earn sluggish Rossoneri a draw

By Oliver Fisher -

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s goal in added time rescued a point for AC Milan against Udinese after what was another subdued performance from the Rossoneri.

It was the home side who took the lead in the first half when the in-form striker Beto finished at the second attempt following a slack pass from Ismael Bennacer that was seized and facilitated a two-on-one counter-attack.

Just as it looked like Milan were about to leave empty handed from a game where they struggled to create clear-cut opportunities, Ibrahimovic popped up in the right place at the right time to finish from close range and snatch a point.

Isaac Success saw red for Udinese in the very closing stages but the Rossoneri were unable to force a winner in the remaining time as they squandered a chance to ensure they remain top ahead of Napoli’s visit next weekend.

Head coach Stefano Pioli made four changes to the starting line-up compared to the team that lost to Liverpool in midweek as Alessandro Florenzi came in for Pierre Kalulu, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Ismael Bennacer were in the double pivot over Franck Kessie and Sandro Tonali, and Alexis Saelemaekers took Junior Messias’ spot on the right wing.

It became very apparently from the opening exchanges that the home side were happy to play narrow and compact with two banks of players, willing to cede possession to Milan and try and hit them on the break whenever the ball was surrendered.

The first moment of panic came when a ball round the back of Milan’s defence seemed to nestle into No Man’s Land between the defence and Mike Maignan, with the Frenchman rushing out to block Deulofeu from finishing before Tomori cleared.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic got his first chance of the game in the 12th minute as a dink over the top from Bennacer found the Swede in space behind the defensive line, and while the offside flag did not go up he sent a half volley comfortably over the bar.

The former Milan man Deulofeu continued to look like Udinese’s brightest player and he flashed a curling effort wide of the far post having cut in onto his favoured right foot from the left side.

It was the home side who took the lead in the 17th minute and it came from the in-form Beto. A giveaway in the midfield as Bakayoko failed to come for a Bennacer pass gave the Bianconeri the chance to counter and after the Portuguese striker saw his first effort saved by the onrushing Maignan, he settled himself and fired the rebound into the roof of the net.

A few minutes before the half-hour mark Udinese again tested Maignan as Molina’s shot from around 25 yards forced him into a backpeddling catch, with the warning signs still there that it would be far from a good night for the Rossoneri.

The best chance that Milan created in the first half came three minutes before the break as Brahim Diaz received a flick from Ibrahimovic following a ball into the box from Romagnoli, however the Spaniard skewed his first-time effort wide of the near post on his left foot.

The Diavolo had the ball in the back of the net less than a minute later when Theo Hernandez slotted past Silvestri having been put through in behind, yet the offside flag went up and the full-back was clearly a few yards offside.

Pioli pulled no punches at the interval and decided to make three substitutions to try and freshen up a lethargic line-up as  Bennacer, Bakayoko and Krunic all came off for Franck Kessie, Sandro Tonali and Junior Messias.

In the opening minute of the second half Milan generated a chance as Udinese failed to clear an aerial ball, which resulted in Florenzi crossing low to Ibrahimovic who fired over with a snapshot.

Brahim Diaz continued to get himself into good areas of the pitch but squandered the chances that came his way, with his team-mates looking on in disbelief when he shot in space on the edge of the box in the 59th minute but was closer to conceding a throw-in than scoring.

Maignan was grateful to clutch a header from Perez after Udinese whipped in a dangerous free-kick from their right side as the home side continued to look quite comfortable in their defence of a one-goal lead.

Ibrahimovic had Silvestri sprawling to make a save as he headed a Tonali cross towards the bottom corner but it nestled narrowly wide. After that chance, Saelemaekers made way as Samu Castillejo came on as the right winger.

The final change came from Pioli not long after an Ibrahimovic header from a free-kick into a dangerous area had not been capitalised upon, and Brahim Diaz made way for Daniel Maldini.

Beto had the opportunity to win the game for Udinese moments after the substitution as he bundled his way through on goal but lifted an effort over Maignan and wide of the far post.

Four minutes from time Theo Hernandez almost certainly made the wrong decision when he pulled the trigger after a loose pass was seized in Udinese’s half, with the left-back shanking his effort wide.

In the second minute of four added on at the end of the 90, Milan got the equaliser their pressure had threatened. A ball was pumped into the area and a ricochet right on the edge of the six-yard box fell to Ibrahimovic, who finished with an acrobatic attempt with his back to goal just as he did in the same fixture last season.

There was a red card in the final few seconds as Isaac Success lashed out at Alessandro Florenzi, but there was not enough time for a winner for either side.

Tags AC Milan Udinese-Milan

9 Comments

  1. Our main attack route are the wings and now we have almost all our wingers injured and a non existent CAM . Can’t we adapt a 3-4-3 formation to overload the wings ?
    It beats my imagination how the coach want to try same thing with a depleted squad.

  2. Until I see a better starting lineup, I well thought out one, I will cease to watch our matches. Asides our absences, indeed, Pioli was very culpable in our torrid first half display. It beggars belief that subs bring more than those he started. Why not start with them? What’s the rationale for resting them?

  3. Pioli keeps making the same mistake, the last Bennacer and Bakayoko pairing cost us the Sassuolo game. Bakayoko is the worst midfielder in the team, and he makes his partner look bad no matter who the player is. He is not attentive and he is not smart. I blame Maldini and Massara, how do you send on loan a budding midfielder like Pobega, who showed so much promise in preseason, and deserved to be given a chance even more than many players who were picked for the season, then get a slower injured player to replace him.

    Isn’t it crazy that we started the season with 5 injured players, three of which came in through the summer transfers, and we are still crying about injuries. We couldn’t even seek an actual Striker that isn’t hand-me-down or out of form. Ibra is not as good as he used to be, and if we had the right striker he could only serve as a good alternative at best. He did good by securing the equaliser, but we can keep hoping on miracles and Hail Marys. Maldini needs to do better with transfers, they can’t keep hiding behind lack of funds and lack of opportunities in the Market. That’s a real stupid excuse. Brahim Diaz should have his bags packed by now. We can’t be grooming players for their parent club and let go of our home grown players. Diaz is not among the top 30 ACMs between 20 to 25 years in Europe and South America, even for his current worth….and yet Maldini thinks he is the best thing to happen to Milan in a long time.

    Today’s display just shows that how difficult it’s going to get with what Elliot and Maldini have planned for the team for the rest of the season. Our Scudetto ambitions are slowly dwindling away, and keeping the status quo wouldn’t help us. Milan is getting more and more dreadful to watch.

  4. Bravo Udinese, bravo Venezia. Serie A long hadnt been this competitive. Sassuolo and of course Atalanta are also great.

    To those that did not watch:
    Udinese was better, played like complete team. Did not care about our wide overload, position switching.
    Brahim was isolated as another user posted – and I add all our lines are disjointed. We keep playing long passes to Ibra when there are 3 players next to him.
    Florenzi and Messias can hardly play accurate long passes. Both pretend to be fouled a lot, ref today correctly did not buy it.

    As ive been saying long here, Bennacer is not only not worth 50, but even 30m. Bakayoko is useless.
    Theo will be good again and now its the first time i really rate him, as he gives it all even without form.

    Ladt point – for first 45 oir players could not complete a direct cross to the other side in the buildup! Ex Theo could not get the ball where he was close to Udinese box alone, he had to wait till ball came thru defenders, at which point Udinese moved to his side too…
    Kids can do better, and those are millionaire pro players.

  5. This team is really hard to watch, so so bad, it’s obvious the manager is tactically inept because the players were not just disorganized but confused. The combination of Bennacer and Bakayoko has proven to be a failed experiment so why has pioli continued to betray the team with it, honestly, Bennecer has been underperforming, his passes are terrible, his defending luckstre. It was a shambolic display and it was awful to watch. A relegation threatened team outplaying the so called title contenders. This AC Milan team are way way off from being genuine title contenders. Honestly watching the team play the way they play is really hard to watch. Very poor performance.

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