AC Milan seems to slowly but surely have to forget about the Italian national title. The team of trainer Stefano Pioli lost 0-1 against Napoli in their own stadium, due to a goal by Matteo Politano shortly after the break. Leader Internazionale increases the lead over the closest pursuer and city rivals to nine points, while number three Juventus still has a match against Milan and has fewer loss points.
Milan stepped off the field midweek as the moral winner after the first game in the eighth finals of the Europa League with Manchester United. A late equalizer from Simon Kjaer ended the match at Old Trafford in 1-1. I Rossoneri – still without the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic – saw leader Internazionale win 1-2 earlier in the day on a visit to Torino, which meant that number five Napoli had to be won in order not to allow the gap with the fellow townsman to increase to nine points.
In the first half the game went up and down and both teams got opportunities. Rafael Leão showed himself twice on behalf of the home team, but the best chances were before the break for Piotr Zielinski. The Polish midfielder’s first shot was blocked by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, while his second attempt just bounced off the wrong side of the post. It took until minute 49 before the game was broken open at the San Siro.
Zielinski launched Politano with a razor-sharp through ball, who made no mistake face to face with Donnarumma and saw the ball bounce into the far corner. Shortly after, Donnarumma prevented Fabian Ruiz from doubling the margin. Gradually in the second half, Napoli folded further and further back on their own half, while Milan was explicitly looking for the equalizer. For example, Leão appeared freely in the penalty area, but he was unable to give his shot any power. Goalkeeper David Ospina had to rescue an attempt by Ante Rebic.
With two minutes left on the clock, Milan seemed to be saved to the VAR. Referee Fabrizio Pasqua was called to the screen after an alleged foul by Tiemoué Bakayoko on Theo Hernández. However, the arbitrator ruled that it was too light for a penalty kick. Milan also ended up with ten men in injury time, when Rebic made a comment to Pasqua and was presented with a direct red card. There was no change in the 0-1 score.