AC MILAN 2‑2 LECCE: THE ROSSONERI FALL SHORT
Serie A
AC Milan were held to a draw by Lecce on a night where they would have been hoping for a win, with new Coach Pioli at the helm and eager for a successful start. It ended 2-2 at San Siro in this game following the international break, with a second half full of drama and a stoppage-time goal for the away side right at the death. Çalhanoğlu, the Rossoneri’s best player of the night, opened the scoring in the first half, before Babacar levelled the scores midway through the second. It then looked like Piątek had secured the win but Calderoni snatched a point for Lecce with just minutes to play. There were positives to take from Milan’s performance in front of the 48,703 fans at San Siro, but they didn’t do enough to take home all three points with costly mistakes on the night. The Rossoneri move up to ten points after eight games in the league, now six points off a Champions League spot. Milan face Roma away in their next match, set to take place on Sunday 27 October at 18:00 CEST.
CHECK OUT THE GALLERY FROM AC MILAN 1-1 LECCE
MATCH REPORT
Milan flew out of the blocks with two chances for Leão in the first three minutes, his first saved by the goalkeeper and his second smashing into the side-netting. Çalhanoğlu then stepped up to the plate, brushing two shots past both the post and crossbar in a matter of minutes. It was however a case of third time lucky, with Hakan opening the scoring in the 20th minute with a sublime right-footed finish from a tight angle catching Gabriel off guard. The Rossoneri then threatened through Suso after half an hour, rarely being called into action in defence with Falco’s effort in the 41st minute off target. Milan then neared a second at the start of the second half, but Leão couldn’t test the keeper after Suso’s ball from deep. Lecce’s leveller came in the 62nd minute: a VAR check revealed a Conti handball in the box, and although Donnarumma did well to save Babacar’s penalty, he could do nothing about the rebound as the striker tapped in to make it 1-1. A chance to take back the lead came in Çalhanoğlu’s long-distance effort in the 72nd minute which flew past the post. However, this same man was influential in what was the goal to put Milan back in front, as he danced through the defence and squared it for Piątek to finish smartly in the 81st. Despite this, it wasn’t meant to be for the Rossoneri, and Calderoni silenced San Siro in the 92nd minute as his longshot sailed past Donnarumma to make the final score 2-2.
AC MILAN 2-2 LECCE
AC MILAN (4-3-3): Donnarumma G.; Conti, Musacchio, Romagnoli, Hernández; Paquetá (67' Krunić), Biglia, Kessie (79' Rebić); Suso, Leão (67' Piątek), Çalhanoğlu. Subs: Donnarumma A., Reina; Duarte, Gabbia, Rodríguez; Bennacer, Brescianini; Borini. Coach: Pioli.
LECCE (4-3-1-2): Gabriel; Meccariello, Rossettini, Lucioni, Calderoni; Tabanelli, Tachtsidis, Majer (64' Petriccione); Mancosu; Falco (46' Farias), Babacar (82' Lapadula). Subs: Vigorito; Benzar, Dell'Orco, Riccardi, Rispoli, Vera; Shakhov; La Mantia, Lo Faso. Coach: Liverani.
Referee: Pasqua from Tivoli.
Goals: 20' Çalhanoğlu (M), 62' Babacar (L), 81' Piątek (M), 92' Calderoni (L).
Booked: 44' Majer (L), 76' Rossettini (L), 85' Biglia (M).
Sent off: 79' Liverani (L) sent off for protesting.
The official PUMA match kits for the 2019/20 season are available in the AC Milan Online Store!
