In a match where everyone expected Milan to drop points again to Torino, the unthinkable happened. First, Milan found themselves down 2-0 in less than 20 minutes. Then Rabiot decided to score his first Milan goal against his former cross city rivals in the most spectacular of ways. And when push came to shove, an unexpected hero – the player who was not even expected to play due to having a fever – came on and turned the entire match upside down in just 10 minutes. And, just like that, Milan defeated Torino 3-2, their first win over the Granata in Turin since the Scudetto season. Back then, Pioli was on fire, now Milan are just destroying dreams, even when they're burning up.
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| Torino's former captain and our feverish hero. |
The traditional Milan self-destruct sequence began with a Tomori handball in the eighth minute. Chiffi called it, VAR confirmed it, and Nikola Vlašić took the penalty. Even though Maignan guessed correctly and got a hand on it, he was unable to stop it, so Torino took the lead, 1-0. Less than ten minutes later, Duván Zapata scored his first goal in over a year, obviously against Milan, to make it 2-0 for Torino. Even for the people who expected this match to go poorly for Milan, this was worse than they thought it would be. Allegri could be seen on the phone frantically giving directions.
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| The captain is the one who is supposed to talk to the referee. |
Worse still, Maignan was shown a yellow card in the 19th minute for being the captain. Like I don't know if Chiffi forgot he was the captain, or felt oddly threatened by him, or if somehow he said something we don't know about, but I did not see anything unusual at all about his protests, only that Milan players unusually swarmed the referee (unlike their cross city rivals, who do that on a regular basis and are never cautioned, or course, because Marotta League. Like Inter's captain does not even get carded for elbowing people in the head, no way they will card him for protesting.)
Worse still, the league slapped him with a warning and €1,500 fine as an "aggravated sanction" because he is captain. Duh, that is why he was speaking to the ref in the first place. Like if they are trying to dispel the narrative around controversial calls in every single Milan match, they don't have to amplify those calls after the fact.
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| That is the way to score your first goal. |
Luckily, Maignan's longtime friend, Rabiot, who spent five years playing for that other team in Turin, said "Not today. Not on my watch." Well, he did not say that per se, after Tomori sent the ball into him in the middle of the pitch, he just scored an incredible goal from 29 meters out to let everyone know what he was thinking. Now it was just 2-1 Torino, and his goal also brought courage back to the Milan players as well.
Unfortunately, it did not prevent injuries. Leão, who pulled up just after he took a shot just wide, and then called for a substitution, indicating a problem in his upper thigh. So, in the 31st minute, Torino's former captain, Samuele Ricci, was subbed on for Leão in what had been his home stadium the past few years. Losing Leão again is frustrating, even more so knowing how hard he has been pushed to play out of position as more of a striker instead of a winger and in a different way than he is used to. This is his second muscle injury of the season, I don't want him to become Allegri's Pato of this tenure.
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| Losing Leão to yet another muscle injury already is very worrisome. |
In the 39th minute, Zapata switched the game to rugby (or maybe MMA?) by running and slamming his body into Rabiot, elbow to the head, with zero intention of going for the ball. Like a blatant and brutal foul that should have at least been a yellow card. But Chiffi checked the badges, and it was a Milan player who was down, harmed, so obviously, he let it go, because Marotta League.
Pavlović, aka our best attacker/defender, took a shot wide in the 40th minute, but it would have been offside anyway. Near the end of halftime, Rabiot took another shot that went just wide. And just before the halftime whistle, Torino were threatening again, with Pedersen putting in a very dangerous cross, but Maignan was able to punch it away and clear the danger.
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| Nkunku put in a good second half. |
The second half was much improved. Nkunku had a sweet backheel from a Loftus-Cheek cross in the 47th minute, but Franco Israel was able to save it. Pavlović sent a shot over, then Bartesaghe had a shot, Ricci took the rebound, but it was a great double save for Franco Israel.
In the 56th minute, Anjorin was shown a yellow card for stomping on Saelemaekers, who was sent into convulsions of pain. But it was a really bad and dangerous foul, especially the way Saelemaekers' foot twisted as Anjorin had his weight on it, and he never even came close to getting the ball (nor did it seem that he was trying.) He argued briefly for a red card, which I would have expected as well. However, Chiffi stuck with the yellow, though.
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| Allegri pushing the panic button after the second goal conceded. |
Marcus Pedersen sent a shot wide, hen Ricci sent a cross for Nkunku, who almost scored, but Franco Israel got his glove to it in time. Then it was magic time. In the 66th minute, Allegri sent Pulisic on for Bartesaghi, and that changed everything.
With his first touch of the game, he controlled a ball from Saelemaekers and shot. And scored. 2-2 all. Game on. At the other end, Ché Adams thought he scored, but it was called back after a VAR review, because Pedersen had fouled Saelemaekers in the build up to the goal. Maignan saved a shot from the Inter-owned Asllani. This was getting real.
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| Sub on. Control the ball. Score. |
And in the 77th minute, just ten minutes after his first goal, Pulisic scored another, this time from a Ricci cross. 3-2 Milan. Incredible that he had been "dead" with fever in bed just two days earlier. And so great that he made it, too, because two minutes later, both Nkunku and Loftus-Cheek missed chances that they really should have scored. Pulisic was the obvious choice for Serie A Player of the Match, and won the vote for Milan's MVP as well.
In the 88th minute, Allegri brought Estupiñan on for Saelemaekers, which was a bit unfortunate. A minute later, Pulisic thought he had scored his hat trick, but it was called back because Estupiñan had been offside. In the fourth minute os stoppage time, Maripán clotheslined Pavlović, but I guess Chiffi felt it was too late in the match to give out a card, I don't know, it was a bad foul. But at the final whistle, it was Milan who took all three points.
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| The hero. |
The win put Milan at the top of the Serie A table, while level with Napoli, Milan are ahead on goal differential. Another win for Landucci, who is still undefeated in his four matches he's managed for Allegri this season. Not only did Rabiot burn a whole in the back of the net, scoring his first Milan goal against his former rival team. Even though we lost Leão to injury, despite Pulisic having been in bed with a fever and having traveled to Turin separately at the last minute, they got the win. Again. Milan are managing to win no matter what. They are simply burning up.
Milan Primavera Concede Late for a Heartbreaking Draw With Bologna
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| Lontani's goal and Longoni's heroics were not enough for the three points. |
Renna's Primavera have been doing well away from home this season. However on Friday, despite going up a goal during the first half, they conceded a heartbreaking goal in stoppage time and it ended 1-1 with Bologna Primavera. Lontani scored in just the 24th minute, assisted by Ossola. Through some heroics from Longoni, Milan managed to stay in the lead. In fact, there was a miracle save in the 60th minute, and it seemed as if Milan Primavera were going to pull it off. But in the 93rd minute, Lo Monaco pulled one back for Bologna, and it finished 1-1 all. Brief highlights are available. This holds Milan Primavera steady in 13th place on the table, and they will play again on Tuesday as they host Parma.