ROSSONERI HELD BY ATALANTA
Serie A
February ended in a draw for the Rossoneri: the big game of Serie A matchday 26 between AC Milan and Atalanta ended 1-1. Rafa Leão opened the scoring with a stunning effort after just three minutes, before La Dea replied with a penalty by Koopmeiners at the end of the first half. Pioli's team deserved much more than a draw for the way they played across the 90 minutes at San Siro. They were careful and determined in defence and produced plenty on the offensive - spurred on by an inspired Leão - but were unable to find the knockout blow for what would have been a deserved victory.
On an evening marked by Theo Hernández's 200th appearance for the Club and Mike Maignan's 100th, there was no shortage of positives. In addition to Rafa's return to the scoresheet in the league - his ninth goal of the season in all competitions - there was Adli's excellent performance at the base of midfield, and the Gabbia-Thiaw centre-back pairing, which nullified the various offensive set-ups proposed by Gasperini's team, should also be noted. After five matches in 15 days, next week will be a week of work; by the time we return to the pitch, it will already be March. Another big match is on the way: on Friday 1, at the Olimpico in Rome, we take on Lazio.
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MATCH REPORT
The game couldn’t have started any better as we took the lead inside three minutes, after an earlier chance had come to Giroud. And what a beauty it was from Leão: on the left, Rafa skipped past Holm and Scalvini before unleashing an unstoppable right-footed shot from a tight angle into the far corner past Carnesecchi. After seven minutes, Hernández tried his luck before the visitors came into the game. Maignan was alert to deny Holm and De Ketelaere, before Adli made a perfectly-timed tackle to stop Koopmeiners on 17 minutes. The intensity was high and in the 20th minute Loftus-Cheek headed just wide from the centre of the box, while Theo’s left-footed volley was stopped on 27 minutes. AC Milan were in control, but the game’s turning point came in the 42nd minute, when Giroud fouled Holm: a penalty was awarded following an on-field VAR review and Koopmeiners stepped up to make it 1-1 from the spot. On the stroke of half-time, Giroud’s header went just over the teams went in at the break all square.
The second half started off quieter compared to the frenetic opening to the game. In the 59th minute, Loftus-Cheek shifted the ball onto his right foot and hit a well-struck shot, and two minutes later Calabria – on as a sub – got a shot off on target, but on both occasions Carnesecchi saved well. The Rossoneri kept on knocking on the door: in the 68th minute, a lovely one-two between Leão and Adli ended with Loftus-Cheek slashing his shot well wide, while a minute later, a superb lofted ball over the top for Pulisic, by Rafa, saw the number 11 bring the ball down exquisitely, but his volley drifted just wide of the far post. Atalanta were on the back foot and couldn’t get out of their own half. On 77 minutes, powerfully-hit effort was kept out by Carnesecchi, who repeated the feat in the 80th minute from Leão, an attempt that also saw effort on the rebound cleared off the line by Zappacosta. In the closing stages, Theo’s two attempts didn’t find the right outcome, with the points shared at the
MATCH DETAILS
AC MILAN 1-1 ATALANTA
AC MILAN (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Florenzi (57' Calabria), Gabbia, Thiaw, Hernández; Bennacer (79' Musah), Adli; Pulisic (88' Okafor), Loftus-Cheek, Leão; Giroud. Subs: Mirante, Sportiello; Jiménez, Kalulu, Kjær, Terracciano; Reijnders; Chukwueze. Coach: Pioli.
ATALANTA (3-4-1-2): Carnesecchi; Scalvini (89' Tolói), Djimsiti, Kolašinac; Holm (46' Zappacosta), de Roon, Éderson, Ruggeri (79' Hien); Koopmeiners; Mirančuk (63' Scamacca), De Ketelaere (46' Lookman). Subs: Musso, Rossi; Bakker, Hateboer, Palomino; Adopo, Pašalić; Touré. Coach: Gasperini.
Referee: Orsato from Schio.
Goals: 3' Leão (M), 42' pen. Koopmeiners (A).
Booked: 40' Pioli (M), 44' de Roon (A), 45'+3 Holm (A), 45'+3 Leão (M), 56' Lookman (A), 90'+4 Éderson (A).
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