AC Milan threw away a winning position late in the game and were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw at home against Bologna on Saturday night.
Joshua Zirkzee gave the away side the lead in the first half, and Olivier Giroud missed the chance to equalise from the spot in what was the first of a penalty-themed game.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek equalised before the break with a nice near post finish, and then Theo Hernandez hit the post from a penalty in the second half.
Loftus-Cheek’s second of the game inside the final 10 minutes looked to have earned a win, but Filippo Terracciano’s shirt pull on Kristiansen in added time gave Bologna a spot kick which Orsolini converted.
Thus, the Rossoneri were forced to settle for a share of the spoils in a game they really should have seen out, failing to take advantage of Juventus’ draw earlier in the evening.
Stefano Pioli chose to make no changes to the starting line-up that beat Roma and Udinese in the last two games, keeping faith in Matteo Gabbia and Simon Kjaer at centre-back, plus Yacine Adli in midfielder and Olivier Giroud up front.
Giroud’s backheels were the talk of the media after he set up Theo Hernandez for the goal that killed Roma off in the last win at San Siro, and he found Christian Pulisic with one early on which drew a yellow card for Riccardo Calafiori after he tripped the winger.
Not long after Theo had gone on a now trademark lung-busting run of about 60 metres before dragging a shot wide, Zirkzee got his first sight of goal when he let fly from the edge of the box but hit it straight into Mike Maignan’s arms.
There was a touching moment in the 16th minute when play stopped before a Milan free-kick and a message from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was displayed on the scoreboard, reading: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.”
The fans also held up their phone lights and applauded, with captain Calabria pointing to the screen almost as if to reiterate the message being conveyed.
Milan were close to making it 1-0 in the 20th minute. Rafael Leao was found in isolation with De Silvestri down the left and his fierce shot was parried by Skorupski, before Calabria then fired over. Tijjani Reijnders hit a volley just wide from distance not long after.
Bologna continued to have moments of danger, such as when Fabbian latched on to a long cross-field pass from Calafiori before beating Theo and Maignan to the loose ball to stab it into a dangerous area, though Calabria came in to clear.
Right before the half-hour mark, the away side did get into the lead after total chaos inside the Milan box. A long ball over the top to Zirkzee saw Fabbian have two shots blocked by Kjaer, then a Calafiori shot blocked before Zirkzee squeezed the ball between Maignan’s legs from a narrow angle.
Milan spurned a couple of big chances to level things before the break; the first being when Kjaer headed a cross over from close range and then Pulisic went for a dink over the onrushing Skorupski but only beat the bar from Loftus-Cheek’s feed.
There was more drama inside the final five minutes of the first half, starting when Kjaer went down holding his mouth claiming Ferguson kicked him in the fact inside the box, and a penalty was given.
Bologna boss Thiago Motta was sent off for protests and VAR confirmed the spot kick, yet Giroud virtually passed the resulting spot kick back to Skorupski given how weak the effort was and he saved easily.
In the final minute of the first half, Milan did get themselves level and it came from the man who opened the scoring last weekend: Loftus-Cheek. A nice move down the right side saw Pulisic feed Calabria, who cut a perfect ball back for RLC to prod home from six yards.
Zirkzee should have doubled his tally immediately after the break when he took down a cross brilliantly to get away from Kjaer, taking a touch past Gabbia to get a shooting angle, yet lacing it over.
The two sides then traded shots that flew not too far over the bar, with Leao first hitting a half-volley over from the edge of the box and then Kristiansen fizzing one just above the upright.
In the 59th minute Pioli elected to make three changes, with Calabria and Adli coming off – both of whom were on yellow cards – and being replaced by Alessandro Florenzi and Yunus Musah. Luka Jovic meanwhile replaced Giroud.
Milan were inches away from getting their first lead of the game when Loftus-Cheek’s header from a corner was half cleared to Tijjani Reijnders, whose shot rattled the crossbar.
The Rossoneri continued to push for the third goal in the game and Leao was very close to ending his league goal drought when a cross from Pulisic found his run at the far post, yet he shinned it wide.
Milan were given another chance from the penalty spot in the 75th minute when Leao’s fantastic run on the counter was ended by De Silvestri’s arm in the face, and yet again the opportunity was wasted with Theo hitting the post and putting the rebound in directly, which is a free-kick for the other team.
Leao missed a big opportunity inside the final 10 minutes when a well-worked short corner routine saw the ball laid on a plate for him just in front of the penalty spot and he somehow wrapped his shot over and wide.
Finally Milan took one of their chances, and Loftus-Cheek was the man of the moment. Again it was a lovely move down the right, this time with Florenzi providing a stand-up cross to perfectly meet the towering head of the former Chelsea man, who obliged with a powerful finish.
The drama was not done, as Bologna were then given a penalty at the other end with substitute Filippo Terracciano penalised for a clear shirt pull on Kristiansen. Maignan guessed the right way, but Orsolini squeezed it under him to level the scores at 2-2.
Those kids make terrible mistakes. At least, when you get chance – don’t do that.
Still defence is very bad. Kjaer is obvious player who can’t compete on strong level.
Next season is must new striker and stronger defender.
Still Milan have problems to create opportunities without wings solutions.
I’m so sick of this team! One game they play great then they flubb the next game and so on and so on!
WHERE IS THE CONSITENCY!?????
And how do we not have better PK takers?? – let Leao take a god damn PK so that he can get his goal and maybe start producing again!!! WTF
We’re consistent in being inconsistent.
No consisteny ,step forwad ,2 steps back, they wi n just when they have to keep pioli’s job
completely agree!
If you’re sick of this team then go cheer other team
suck my lollipop!
Loser
no it was a draw – but nobody cares what you say anyway
I really can’t understand the decision to put in Terracciano, and for the shortest time he’s on the field, he’s more on the mid position. If the CB who got in, to defend our lead, it’d be much much more make sense.
And those 2 penalties were just awful. Directed to the exact same spot TWICE.
Terraciano Anyiiiiiing…
Are we again gonna said that we havent had luck with 2 penalys missed? Just read Furlani’s comment how we have talented players, hard working individual and so on. Usual BS. It’s time to stop sugarcoating things and say that Pioli is done and hopefuly soon gone. And Leao can go with him. He has also became liability for our squad. Yes he had thst run that gave us 2nd penalty but whole game NOTHING. We need serious restart of a squad AGAIN because if we continue like this we will be back in banter era in no time.
Bahahahah back in banter era ok dude.
I swear you need to take a chill pill.
And leão was one of the better players on the pitch.
Agreed
Pioli is done, I agreed. With other things you said, no. We’ve seen the top ceiling of Pioli. As a manager / coach, he just simply couldn’t do much more than that. He reached his peak.
And take Motta as an example, we surely haven’t seen his limit, who knows how far he can go. That potential is the logical justification when we take a less experienced coach. Whether we want to continue with someone we all know the limit, or start a new cycle with someone who potentially can surpass that limit, is really up to the management.
So Pioli is the only one to blame after we draw a match, with 2 penalty for us missed? Lol.
If Giroud and Theo didn’t miss their penalties, we will be comfortably lead 4-1 before the 90th minutes – and the game won’t be that nervous for the team…
Agreed that Pioli need to be changed – but third place in Serie A is not a bad position. Far from the banter era, if your memories is that bad you can’t even remember how Atrocious we were during that time, well… Maybe you need to go to doctor bro. And take some chill pill.
Terraciano pull a very immature foul. Zero awareness of his man running behind him.
I guess it wasn’t meant to be today with 2 penalty missed. Could’ve been great opportunity to close the gap with Juventus.
Yes, how he lost his man was just awful. The same awfulness of Theo being too easily passed by Orsolini that made the opening at the first place.
Over at Barca Xavi announced he’s stepping down at the end of the season, hope Pioli and the ownership follow his example.
I agree. RLC has been scoring lately but in general he shouldn’t play there. It kills all the momentum. That one pass he gave pulisic is the type of game he plays better but still the pass was off and pulled pulisic out of position to score. Pulisc in the middle and chuck outside when he returns. RLC can switch with one of the mids for the double pivot. Problem is we have too many midfielders now since 433 didn’t really workout.
Every time Pulisic gets the ball he stops, he doesn’t continue the momentum and the opposition can regroup
We wasted a lot of chances and amateur mistake from Terraciano that cost us 3 points
But before that, we need a new PK taker. Give it to Leao, RLC, or Pulisic. SMH.
Surely Leao should have taken the 2nd Pk if not the first too.
The guy is desperate for a goal. He’s just earnt the Pk and Giroud is off the field.
Both kicks were soft passes. Giroud’s was especially ordinary.
What a disappointment, we really could have won tonight against a very beatable Bologna. However you can’t win by missing 2 penalty, the players are to blame here and of course Pioli haters would use this change to diss him as always while in fact it’s the player who don’t perform.
Game thrown by our players this time rather than pioli. Crzy that we could score 2 penalties amd that Terraciano commits that error. We meed to regroup we cannot keep making these mistakes
off yourself pioli and make it as painful as possible
I am a huge fan of Olivier Giroud,but tonight huge disappointment,,yes he didn’t get the service.
But the penalty miss was awful,,,not that it should even have been a penalty…are midfield is over crowded…yes loftus cheek did well ,,.but we did not get space with wingers ,,by that poor crosses .jovic came on ,but didn’t even notice him ,again service to him was poor ..Rafeol Leao still to me is the man who did look like creating things ,,problem with Rafeol is lack of scoring boots ..That all said ,he still is the player to have in the team ..
We should have won this match ..We we’re the better team ,,,but two penalties missed ..o dear me
I still won’t chuck the towel in ,as we have got the players ,,but sometimes we are to crowded in midfield.
Yes we are still doing well but 2 points dropped tonight .
Musah looked very good when he came on ..
I agree with the substitutions pioli made ..
I still have faith in our team and in our coach .
Sofian the ” Perv ” what happened to your golden boy Giroud? 🤡🤡🤡 Where you at ?
This is on pioli, nothing more irritating than seeing him celebrating at 2-1: damn nigga load of wasted chances and lot of time left.
Pioli should have been fuming (u can’t achieve results throwing away chances like that, the Giroud’s pk was awful) but man was celebrating like a bitch.
Leao was disgusted as hell knowing he worked alone to earn that PK.
Wasting 2 penalties & not winning looks terrible on the Manager (& the team), no other way to put it ( it is the height of unseriousness) .
#Pioliout
Wow. Just… Wow. The bias and hate here is unreal. Blame it all on Pioli.
The 1st was not a penalty, so stop crying about it.
A shambles of a performance
Aarghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Really poor game this from both.
Was keeping an eye on the fa cup Fulham Newcastle the standard between the two was night and day.
Pardon my ignorance but why all the hype regarding motta? also bologna I just don’t get it .
As things stand we have a problem can’t afford klopp or de zerbi dought we can afford conte nither and if motta is the best we can do 😧😦.