STALEMATE AT SAN SIRO
Serie A
As it was in the reverse fixture, it ended 0-0 between AC Milan and Juventus. And much like the game back in October, it was the Rossoneri left ruing their spurned chances in one of the biggest fixtures in Italian football. Allegri's men had the better opportunities and even hit the bar through Saelemaekers at the start of the first half. The two teams come away from the big game on matchday 34 with a point apiece, taking them both slightly closer to Champions League qualification.
Wins for Como and Roma mean that our lead over fifth place stands at six points, with 360 minutes of football still to be played. It's a healthy lead, but it is not over yet, and we will need to defend and possibly even improve upon it in our final fixtures of the campaign. We will go into the final run-in following a solid performance, in which we risked very little against Juventus, who came to Milan as one of the form teams in Serie A. Our second straight clean sheet also confirms our status as the best defence in the league. Now, we turn our attention to our next game, when we travel to Reggio Emilia to take on Sassuolo on Sunday 3 May.
CHECK OUT THE GALLERY FROM AC MILAN v JUVENTUS
MATCH REPORT
In the early stages, both sides enjoyed spells of possession but did not really trouble either Maignan - making his 200th appearance for the Rossoneri - or Di Gregorio. The only effort of note came from Thuram on ten minutes, with a long-range strike that was blocked by our defence. In the 23rd minute, Fofana won the ball in midfield, drove forward and sent a shot from a tight angle into the side netting. On the 28-minute mark, Tomori tried to pick out Pulisic, but the pass just evaded the US international, who would have been clean through. In the 35th minute, Rabiot's powerful strike from the edge of the box was saved by Di Gregorio, with Leão curling the rebound over the bar. Conceição went for the near post on 40 minutes, but Maignan stood tall to block the effort with his body. The first half ended with another attempt from the Portuguese man, again dealt with by our captain.
We made one change at the break - Estupiñan replacing Bartesaghi - and almost took the lead in the 50th minute: Saelemaekers, teed up by Leão on the break, struck the bar with his right foot. Four minutes later, Bremer forced Maignan into action. After a spell of play with little goalmouth action, Saelemaekers tried again from a tight angle, but Di Gregorio made the stop (69'). Five minutes later, Maignan comfortably saved a long-range effort from Koopmeiners, who also had a free-kick punched away by the Rossoneri shot-stopper (75'). Both coaches turned to their benches in search of a breakthrough, and there was a scare when David glanced a header wide from a dangerous position (85'). Six minutes were added on, but there was no change to the scoreline: it ended 0-0 at San Siro.
MATCH DETAILS
AC MILAN 0-0 JUVENTUS
AC MILAN (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlović; Saelemaekers, Fofana (66' Ricci), Modrić (80' Jashari), Rabiot, Bartesaghi (46' Estupiñan); Pulisic (62' Füllkrug), Leão (80' Nkunku). Subs: Pittarella, Terracciano; Athekame, De Winter, Odogu; Loftus-Cheek; Gimenez. Coach: Allegri.
JUVENTUS (3-4-2-1): Di Gregorio; Kalulu, Bremer, Kelly; McKennie, Locatelli, Thuram (71' Koopmeiners), Cambiaso (71' Holm); Conceição (80' Zhegrova), Boga (80' Yıldız); David (87' Vlahović). Subs: Perin, Pinsoglio; Gatti; Kostić, Miretti; Openda. Coach: Spalletti.
Referee: Sozza from Seregno.
Booked: 20' Cambiaso (J), 38' Bartesaghi (M), 72' Boga (J), 75' Estupiñan (M), 86' Locatelli (J).
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