AC Milan had a nightmare evening against their Lombardy neighbours Monza as they conceded twice late on to lose 4-2 in a dramatic encounter at the U-Power Stadium.
Monza were well in control going into the break as a penalty from Pessina and a deflected shot from Mota had them two goals up, and then Luka Jovic’s red card early in the second half seemed to put the game to bed.
However, Milan roared back in the second half to level it with 10 men. Olivier Giroud came off the bench to halve the deficit with an instinctive finish, then Christian Pulisic’s rocket set up a grandstand last few minutes.
In the end it was the home side who were left celebrating as Bondo made it 3-2 and then Colombo scored against his parent club to finally put the contest to bed and secure Monza’s first ever league win against the Rossoneri.
Stefano Pioli elected to make six changes to the starting line-up that beat Rennes in midweek as Malick Thiaw, Yacine Adli, Ismael Bennacer, Noah Okafor, Samuel Chukwueze and Luka Jovic all came into the side.
The first chance of the game fell to Milan inside two minutes as a free-kick from deep on the left side was whipped in perfectly onto the penalty spot by Theo Hernandez, and though Jovic got a good connection Di Gregorio was there to save.
Monza then responded with a good spell of their own. First Mota found space to cut in off the left and shoot with his right but saw the shot deflect wide for a corner, and then from the resulting set piece Mari had an effort also deflect over.
It was a frantic opening to the game and Milan had another sight at goal inside the fifth minute following an excellent run from Chukwueze to the right byline, with a cut-back eventually finding Theo whose shot was blocked behind with the goalkeeper rooted.
The game then descended into a bit of a lull after such a wide open start, with the main incidents being a shot from Chukwueze just outside the box that did not trouble Di Gregorio too much.
Bennacer then had a nice give-and-go with Jovic, but the shot wasn’t the best from the edge of the area and he pulled it too much which seemed to negate any power or placement.
The home side were not far from taking the lead on the half-hour mark when a cross from the right was met by the head of Djuric who was only just inside the area yet still sent a looping effort that was narrowly wide of the upright.
There was a really nasty collision inside the Monza box that required a long stoppage as Carboni and Di Gregorio had a clash of heads defending a Milan cross. There seemed to be a fair bit of blood, and though the former was able to carry on with heavy bandaging, the keeper was forced off and was replaced by Sorrentino.
The break certainly benefitted the home side more as they won a penalty a couple of minutes before the interval. Thiaw made a clumsy challenge outside the box on Djuric and then decided to make another one inside the box on Motta. The ex-Milan man Pessina took the responsibility from 12 yards, sending Maignan the wrong way.
Milan had a final half-chance in the eight minutes that were added on when an Adli cross was knocked down to Jovic by Loftus-Cheek, though a brilliant diving block denied his first-time shot.
However, it was Monza who went into the break two goals up as they hit Milan on the break. A counter-attack down their right side saw Colpani get the better of Thiaw and then find Mota, who stuttered his way into the box and fired a shot that deflected off Thiaw and nestled inside the far post.
Pioli made three changes at the break as Tijjani Reijnders came on for Adli, Christian Pulisic took the place of Chukwueze and Rafael Leao replaced Okafor.
Things went from bad to worse for the Rossoneri as Jovic was given his marching orders just five minutes into the second half. After earlier clashing with Izzo, the two came together again off the ball and the Serbian seemed to slap the defender, resulting in a red card after a VAR review.
In the 53rd minute Pioli made another change with Olivier Giroud coming on for Bennacer in an attempt to at least try and get back into the game and cause some danger.
As was perhaps to be expected given the circumstances, Monza were happy to control the ball and try to tire Milan out. Colpani perhaps could have put the game fully to bed when he was found at the far post with a deep cross, yet he headed wide.
Milan got themselves back into the game in the 64th minute and it was a chance that really came out of nothing. A cross from Florenzi on the right side was flicked on by Pulisic at the near post and Giroud instinctively stuck a leg out to divert it inside the post to make it 2-1.
Pioli’s men continued to push, and it looked for a second as though a ball in behind would be latched onto by Leao who would have been through on goal, but he was just about crowded out. Moments later, a Reijnders cross was headed powerfully by Loftus-Cheek but straight at Sorrentino.
A final change came in the 83rd minute when Yunus Musah came on for Florenzi, marking a final roll of the dice from the coach.
With three minutes left on the clock, Milan got themselves level and it was a quite unbelievable goal from Pulisic. After seeing a cross blocked back out to him, the American shuffled inside onto his left foot and was able to hammer a rising shot inside the top left corner to make it 2-2.
However, the drama didn’t end there as Monza then went back in front. The hosts found themselves with numbers forward and Bondo was able to hit one from just outside the edge of the box, with Maignan beaten. The goal was actually disallowed at first for offside, then rightly cleared.
To add insult to injury in the fifth minute of added time Colombo put the game to bed against his parent club. A five-on-three break saw the ball worked to the No.9 on the right side of the box, who hammed a low shot past Maignan.
