AC Milan narrowly beat only nine Bologna players on Saturday night. The Milanese let Sinisa Mihajlovic’s team come back from a 0-2 deficit, partly thanks to a clumsy own goal by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Bologna ended up with nine men and could not prevent Milan from winning thanks to a wonderful volley from Ismaël Bennacer and a placed shot by Ibrahimovic: 2-4. I Rossoneric are therefore at the top of the Serie A, although Napoli can come alongside again on Sunday.
Ibrahimovic had already come in the last two games and was now in the starting line for the first time since his return. This was at the expense of Olivier Giroud, who was put next to Ibrahimovic after exactly an hour of play to repair the damage that had occurred. The match started excellent for Milan, who took the lead somewhat fortunately after fifteen minutes. Rafael Leão saw his shot from the left side of the penalty area bounce off Guy Medel’s foot, landing in the short corner: 0-1.
The ten of Bologna are back in the game: 1-2! ?? Ibrahimovic outwits his own goalkeeper ?? #ZiggoSport #SeriesA #BFCACM pic.twitter.com/9mH8MkoGQd
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) October 23, 2021
After twenty minutes, the launched Rade Krunic was overrun by Adama Soumaoro, after which the Bologna defender was resolutely sent off with a red card. Ibrahimovic wanted to shoot the ensuing free kick under the wall, but failed. After more than half an hour, Milan doubled its lead. Bologna keeper Lukasz Skorupski boxed away a cross, after which the ball fell out of the mix at the feet of Davide Calabria, who shot hard: 0-2.
Bologna managed to come back all the way within seven minutes of the break. First Ibrahimovic headed a sharp corner kick at the near post, unfortunately into his own goal: 1-0. Then Musa Barrow ducked behind Milan’s not very alert defense to calmly place the ball past goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu. Bologna came up with nine men within the hour, when Roberto Soriano stepped hard on the ankle at Fodé Ballo-Touré and was shown red.
Mihajlovic brought in two Dutch players with Jerry Schouten and Mitchell Dijks (Sydney van Hooijdonk stayed on the bench), in an attempt to get a point out of the fire. A dangerous header from Giroud was turned over by Skorupski, who did not answer a bang from Bennacer six minutes before the end. The midfielder was on the edge of the penalty area ready for a falling ball and suddenly took it out of the air: 2-3. The decision fell in the ninetieth minute via Ibrahimovic, who coolly placed the ball from sixteen meters into the far corner: 2-4.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AC Milan | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 25 |
| 2 | Napoli | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 24 |
| 3 | Internazionale | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 17 |
| 4 | AS Roma | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 15 |
| 5 | Lazio | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 14 |
| 6 | Atalanta | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| 7 | Juventus | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 14 |
| 8 | Fiorentina | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | -2 | 12 |
| 9 | Bologna | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | -4 | 12 |
| 10 | empoli | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | -4 | 12 |
| 11 | Torino | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 11 |
| 12 | Sassuolo | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 11 |
| 13 | Udinese | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | -2 | 9 |
| 14 | sampdoria | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -4 | 9 |
| 15 | Hellas Verona | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| 16 | Venice | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | -8 | 8 |
| 17 | special | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | -11 | 7 |
| 18 | Cagliari | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -6 | 6 |
| 19 | Genoa | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -7 | 6 |
| 20 | Salernitana | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | -13 | 4 |