AC Milan suffered another damage on Wednesday evening in the battle for the title in the Serie A. The team of trainer Stefano Pioli faced a 0-1 deficit in-house for a long time, but came alongside through Franck Kessié deep in injury time: 1-1. Because of the points division, the gap with leader and fellow townsman Internazionale, which will play against Parma on Thursday evening, is three points. AS Roma escaped on a visit to Fiorentina (1-2) from a loss of points due to a goal deep in injury time, while Atalanta was 5-1 too strong for Crotone in-house.
AC Milan – Udinese 1 – 1
Milan, which has to do without the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the time being, screamed for a penalty kick after fifteen minutes of play. Kessié turned away from Tolgay Arslan on the left side of the penalty area and then went to the grass together with the midfielder, but referee Davide Massa did not want it. The home team had a clear advantage in the first half, but only managed to become dangerous once in a while. Two minutes after Kessié went to the ground, Brahim Díaz created danger. The attacker saw a shot from the edge of the penalty area go to the top left corner, where Juan Musso kept his goal clean with a fine save.
Milan also remained the parent in the second half, but the team had to watch how Udinese took the brutal lead. Rodrigo De Paul put a corner kick to the head of Becao, who was too strong for Alessio Romagnoli in the air and saw the ball roll behind Gianluigi Donnarumma: 0-1. Just before that, Samuel Castillejo was unhappy in the completion on behalf of Milan. The Milanese seemed upset by Becaeo’s goal, but came deep in injury time, when Kessié was allowed to tie for the equalizer from the spot: 1-1. Marvin Zeegelaar was removed from the visitors twenty minutes before time, while Bram Nuytinck played the entire match.
Atalanta – Crotone 5-1
The team of trainer Gian Piero Gasperini got the desired lead before the end of the first quarter, when Robin Gosens nodded in from a hard cross by Josip Ilicic. While there was no cloud in the air for Atalanta, a misunderstanding between Cristian Romero and Remo Freuler, which was punished by Nwankwo Simy, led to an unexpected goal against: 1-1. With art and flying work Crotone managed to keep the tie until the halftime signal, but after tea the fence was over.
The 2-1 was found by José Palomino, who easily tapped in the Berat Djimsiti from a corner. Two minutes later, the margin was already doubled, when Luis Muriel hit the short corner after a clumsy slip by Vladimir Golemic: 3-1. The visitors’ hopes for a good end result faded away after an hour of play. Muriel delivered the leather on the edge of the box to Ilicic, who found the far corner with a placed shot: 4-1. The damage was even greater for the visitors, as Aleksey Miranchuk put the 5-1 final score on the scoreboard on a pass from Duvan Zapata. There was no Dutch input in this game: Hans Hateboer, Marten de Roon and Sam Lammers were not in the match selection.
Fiorentina – AS Roma 1-2
There was very little to enjoy the first half in the Stadio Artemio Franchi. The only serious chance for halftime was created by Lorenzo Pellegrini. However, his effort from outside the box was a prey for Fiorentina’s goalkeeper, Bartlomiej Dragowski. Four minutes after the break, Roma broke the spell, when Leonardo Spinazzola put the 0-1 on the scoreboard on a pass from Gianluca Mancini. Fifteen minutes later, Spinazzola canceled his goal, when he unhappily worked the leather behind his own goalkeeper: 1-1. Ultimately, Roma managed to turn the tide. Rick Karsdorp entered the field only nine minutes before the end, but fulfilled an absolute star role by serving Amadou Diawara. The latter was responsible for the 1-2 final score.