After a downright poor performance, AC Milan still managed to take full advantage against Lazio (0-1). Substitute Noah Okafor was ahead of the golden boy just before the end i Rossoneri, who are in third place thanks to the victory and are approaching Juventus, who still have a game in hand, to within one point. Lazio suffers a very expensive defeat with a view to a place in the top four.

At Lazio, club top scorer Ciro Immobile was on the bench. His place at the point of attack was taken by Taty Castellanos. Tijjani Reijnders was once again on the bench at Milan. Trainer Stefano Pioli preferred Yacine Adli, who formed the block in midfield with Ismaël Bennacer. Olivier Giroud was the striker on duty. The Frenchman was flanked by Christian Pulisic (right) and Rafael Leão (left).

Lazio should have taken a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute. A corner was headed by Felipe Anderson to the far post, where Matías Vecino shot wide from very close range to his own disbelief. Not much later, Lazio thought about a penalty kick, after Mike Maignan unfortunately knocked down Castellanos. However, it was not enough for referee Marco Di Bello and the VAR, even though the ball was not in the area.

Milan disappointed in attack, while Lazio continued to look for Maignan. However, Milan's defense was just strong enough. Moreover, Lazio did not always make the right choices at the front. There was little to do in the Stadio Olimpico in the remainder of the first half. Milan started to push a little more, but played far from convincingly.

Illustrative of Milan's mediocre play was a free kick by Theo Hernández, who wanted to reach a teammate. However, his inswinging free kick was far too hard for everything and everyone. It led to a few dissatisfied looks back and forth. Leão encouraged his teammates in an attempt to switch things off. That didn't yield much at first. For example, Giroud hit the ball completely wrong from a corner, losing a reasonable chance.

Yet Milan received a huge boost after Luca Pellegrini received his second yellow card. The left back wanted to let the ball roll out, to provide an opportunity for injury treatment for a teammate. However, Pulisic did not want to cooperate and stole the ball from Pellegrini, who hung on the American's shirt and received his second yellow card for it.

RED! ??
Wonderful chaos in Italy and Pellegrini is the victim of it ??#ZiggoSport #SerieA #LazioMilan pic.twitter.com/8pNdxpbpEV

— Ziggo Sport Voetbal (@ZS_Voetbal) March 1, 2024

Milan remained mediocre, but thought they could take the lead fifteen minutes before the end of regular playing time. On a pass from substitute Reijnders, Leão shot in and after extensive celebrations, the goal was still disallowed for offside. The liberating goal still fell for Milan. Leão first came across Ivan Provedel, who was then unable to put his hand behind Okafor's rebound: 0-1.

Lazio still had the chance to equalize, were it not for the fact that Immobile, of all people, hit the ball completely wrong in a promising position. In injury time, Matteo Guendouzi also received his second yellow card, after he punched wildly in frustration after his shirt was being hung.

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