Parma 2-1 AC Milan: Rossoneri suffer first defeat under Fonseca

AC Milan continued their winless start to the season as they were beaten 2-1 by Parma at the Stadio Ennio Tardini on Saturday night.

The home side took the lead within two minutes as Dennis Man was on hand to tap home a teasing cross by Emanuele Valeri, but Milan thought that they were back in business when Christian Pulisic equalised from close range.

The Rossoneri were pushing for a winning goal but got caught at the other end when Pontus Almqvist squared for Matteo Cancellieri who put the hosts 2-1 up, and that would be enough to earn them the three points.

It means that Milan are stuck on one point after two games and have not made an ideal start to the 2024-25 season, especially with Lazio and Inter to come in the next three games.

Paulo Fonseca made five changes to the starting line-up that drew with Torino as Strahinja Pavlovic, Theo Hernandez, Tijjani Reijnders, Yunus Musah and Noah Okafor all came into the side.

Milan found themselves behind inside two minutes as the half-changed defence totally fell asleep. A switch of play over to the left flank found Valeri, who outpaced Davide Calabria and provided a perfect low ball across the box to Dennis Man and the Romanian applied a powerful finish having beaten Theo to the ball.

The opening 20 minutes was nothing short of a nightmare for Milan as they were all at sea at the back. Calabria and Theo continued to get beaten down the flanks, with numerous dangerous crosses flying across the fact of goal without being tapped in. This was all while the Rossoneri failed to generate any attacking pressure.

The first real move that Milan put together was midway through the first half when Christian Pulisic surged down the right and the ball was cut back to Musah, whose shot took a looping deflection and landed a few yards wide.

Milan had their best spell of the first half around the half-four mark as several chances went begging. First a jinking run from Leao got him to the byline and his feed found Noah Okafor who fired straight at Suzuki, then Reijnders did well to drive towards goal with a dart to the left and to the right, yet his low drive flashed across goal when it was begging to be turned in.

The one-way traffic continued after that, and Pavlovic – who had a header turned over the bar from Suzuki minutes earlier – rose to meet a corner from the right side and got a good connection yet it just went wide of the near post.

Parma provided a reminder of the threat that they pose on the counter, and Sohm should have perhaps done better with a shot from the edge of the box after a three against two counter-attack when Milan had lost possession.

Pavlovic had picked up a yellow card for a foul while the home side were trying to break and he had to time his intervention to perfect when he dived in to stop Man who thought he was through on goal. Thankfully he did get it spot on, and then moments later Parma hit the post after Maignan came for a ball and didn’t get it, though the whistle might have gone for a foul.

The final chance of the half went to the Crociati as they again took advantage of Milan’s high line, breaking through Mihăilă who could have pulled the trigger early but invited pressure from Tomori, before Maignan stuck out a leg to save his low shot.

Milan were inches away from levelling the game within a minuet of the restart as Reijnders rattled the crossbar with a shot from 25 yards that took a slight nick and almost dipped under the woodwork. Moments later, Okafor hooked a volley over the bar from a Calabria cross, in a similar fashion to the equaliser against Torino.

Parma thought that they had doubled their lead when a low cross from the left was met by the outstretched boot of Bonny, who diverted it past Maignan at the near post yet the flag rightly went up as he was a few yards offside. Just 60 seconds later, a counter ended with Man cutting in onto his right foot and curling one just wide.

In the 66th minute, Milan did finally get themselves level and it was the best move of the game to that point. Leao made a brilliant darting run in off the left, feeding Theo’s run in behind then receiving the ball back and squaring to Pulisic, who just had to tap into an empty net.

However, Parma re-took the lead with 13 minutes left and it came after a sloppy giveaway from Leao. A ball out to the left found Almqvist who simply had to roll a ball past Tomori and Pavlovic to Cancellieri, and the first-time finish got the better of Maignan.

Emerson Royal and Youssouf Fofana came on before Parma’s second goal, and Samuel Chukwueze was brought on after that for Pulisic with a few minutes left.