A new season of sports
Milan have suffered two defeats in a row in the past week, losing to Monza for the first time in the last round of the league and almost being beaten back by Rennes in the second leg of the Europa League play-off in midweek; Fortunately, after qualifying, a good draw was drawn in the knockout round of the Europa League. In the 26th round of Serie A, Milan returned to San Siro against Atalanta, and when Leao broke the goal drought and made a dream start, Giroud accidentally sent a penalty, and Milan finally lost a good game and was forced to draw 1:1 by Atalanta.
Atalanta sit fifth in the table, seven points behind Milan and have lost both meetings this season to the Nerazzurri. In the face of this revenge battle, Pioli did not make much reservations, Pulisic, Leao, and Giroud all slashed together; Loftus-Cheek, Adley and Bennacer in midfield; Florenzi, Gaf, Gabia, Te'o lined up at the back; It was Maignan who guarded the gate.
Just three minutes into the opening period, Milan got off to a dream startLeao rode alone on the left side, passed through the crotch, and then passed Scalvini and then cut inside and shot into the far corner, 1:0! Rafael Leao broke a 155-day league goal drought and his last Serie A goal was back in September last year; It was also the 50th goal scored by Leao since landing in the top five leagues.
Although the first goal was conceded and it was an away battle, Atalanta played without ambiguity at all, in the 12th minute, Atalanta attacked Milan in front of the goal and completed 2 shots, Maignan made a sideways save to resolve the danger; In the 18th minute, Christian Pulisic was tackled by De Ketelaere with the ball on the wing, but fortunately Adley stepped up in time to block. In the 41st minute, Atalanta took a corner kickWhen Giroud returned to his penalty area to participate in the corner kick defense, he raised his foot too high and kicked down Holm, Italian whistle Orsato awarded a penalty in the **var replay, Koopmeiners took the penalty directly to the middle, Maignan misjudged, 1:1! Koopmeiners scored his 10th goal of the season, marking the second consecutive season double-double.
As soon as he returned in the second half, Gasperini replaced Zappacosta and Lookman to strengthen the attack; In the 60th minute, Giroud leaned on the defense in the penalty area to do it, and Calabria got rid of the powerful shot and was blocked by Carnesecki; In the 69th minute, Leao's long pass was transferred, and Pulisic stepped forward on the right side at high speed to unload the ball and shoot into the far corner, and the ball grazed the post and rolled out of the bottom line; In the 76th minute, Loftus-Cheek shot directly from outside the penalty area, and Carnesecki blocked with both hands to resolve the danger.
Although Milan attacked a lot in the second half and made 20 shots on goal, they were unable to penetrate the Atalanta goal again; In the end, they could only accept a 1:1 draw. As a result, Milan has been winless in 3 games, and has been opened up by Inter Milan in the standings by 13 points, and the league championship can be declared hopeless.