AC Milan got a much needed three points from their Lombardy neighbours Monza on Saturday night, beating them 1-0 at the U-Power Stadium.
It was far from a vintage performance in truth, but the only goal of the game came late in the first half as Tijjani Reijnders pounced on a blocked Alvaro Morata header to put the Rossoneri 1-0 up.
Monza had their chances in truth but they were unable to take any of them, and the end result was not just a vital three points but also a clean sheet, something that feels like a rarity.
It was an important response after the Napoli defeat in midweek and with Juventus winning against Udinese, however it was perhaps not the big injection of confidence needed ahead of a trip to Real Madrid.
Paulo Fonseca made a number of changes to the starting line-up for the game with Reijnders and Theo Hernandez returning from suspension, but controversially he chose to leave Rafael Leao out for the third game in the last four.
Milan started the game on the front foot and carved Monza open a few times in the opening five minutes. Samuel Chukwueze had the first shot of the game that deflected through to the keeper, then some nice interplay on the left saw Theo squander the chance to put Christian Pulisic through on goal.
Monza thought that they had got themselves the lead in the eighth minute when a knockdown from Djuric was buried via a deflection from Dany Mota. However, the referee disallowed the goal for a foul in the build-up on Theo Hernandez.
Daniel Maldini was lively in the early stages and he was fouled leading to a free-kick right on the edge of the box. The former Milan man took it and saw his shot blocked, then Kyriakopoulos sent the follow-up narrowly wide.
Maldini missed a glorious chance to put the home side ahead when he was found by an excellent cross from Bondo on the right, sending a first-time shot just past the right post with Mike Maignan rooted.
Milan really should have taken the lead in the 20th minute when a loose ball out from Mari was seized by Youssouf Fofana, ending with a shot from Noah Okafor that was straight at Turati after Alvaro Morata’s feed.
Maignan was forced into a full stretch save just after the midway point in the first half when Maldini was allowed to stride into space and shoot from around 20 yards out, turning it away for a corner.
Moments after Morata had missed a big chance with a header in the Monza box, at the other end Maignan made a fantastic reflex save to deny Pereira’s downward header to keep the scores level.
Monza came very close to opening the scoring again on the half-hour mark when Maldini created space for himself and hit a shot off the far post, though the flag went up for offside on Djuric.
In the 43rd minute, Milan did get the opening goal of the contest and it came from Tijjani Reijnders. A well-worked counter-attack saw Christian Pulisic launch a cross into the box where two men were waiting unmarked. Morata’s initial header was blocked but into the path of Reijnders, who scored from a few yards out.
After a slow opening to the second half, a red card was shown to Fonseca for what was in the eyes of the referee consistent dissent from the Milan boss. However, it seemed that there was some confusion regarding who the red went to, because Fonseca remained in the dugout.
A couple of minutes before the hour mark Monza had to scramble to keep out a cross that Morata’s header just missed, and from the resulting corner Turati did well to adjust to a deflected shot from Reijnders.
In the 62nd minute Fonseca made his first change, with Okafor being withdrawn in favour of Rafael Leao, who entered the field to a warm reception from the travelling fans.
It was almost the perfect introduction for the winger as he played a nice one-two with Reijnders inside the box, yet he sliced his effort wide from a central area as he looked to get his second goal of the season.
The left side seemed to click into gear with Leao’s introduction, and a surging run from Theo Hernandez ended with a stinging shot that was palmed behind for a corner as it threatened to rise into the roof of the next.
Not long after Monza had sent an ambitious volley wide of the target, Fonseca made another change with 10 minutes to go as Ruben Loftus-Cheek came on for Chukwueze. The substitution meant Pulisic moved out to the right wing.
Malick Thiaw made a crucial intervention less than a minute after the change, blocking a Maric shot after Caprari had found him in space.
Leao was so close to doing something spectacular with five minutes to go when he picked up possession deep in Milan’s half and ran it over 50 yards to get through on goal, with a bit of a lucky bounce too. However, when it came to the finish he lifted it into Turati’s hands rather than slotting it low.
A couple of minutes before the end two further changes came with Davide Calabria and Yunus Musah coming on for Pulisic and Terracciano.
Leao had another chance to put the game to bed after Musah’s cut-back from the right side was controlled and fired by the Portuguese winger, yet the effort left the stadium as he failed to keep it down.