Juventus managed to maintain their unbeaten record as they successfully held their title rival, Ac Milan into a 1-1 draw in a match filled with controversies as the Rossoneri might be feeling a bit harmed when they could’ve had a two goals lead in the first period.
Not having much equal substitute players on the bench obviously troubled the Red and Black squad in the second period when tiredness starts growing.
Eying to extend the gap with Juventus, Milan were hitting into top gear from the first kick off as they were buzzing and running all over the place, putting lots of pressure for Juventus players, forcing the visitors to made plenty turn overs. After creating several chances, the Rossoneri picked up a deserved lead after deflected Nocerino’s long range shot simply wrong footed Gianluigi Buffon on Juve’s goal, earning the home team a morale boosting effort.
The Rossoneri continue to pour forward, putting the Turin outfit in lots of trouble and should have picked up a second goal which would definitely made things harder for Juve. Sulley Muntari headed in the ball passed the goal line but was push out quickly by Buffon, making the officials think that the ball hasn’t cross the line as just yet.
From the incident, Juventus went on a counter attack and almost scored when Estegarribia’s shot was well saved by Cristian Abbiati, but the episode enraged the Milan’s bench as they were questioning how the goal wasn’t given. The Rossoneri still pretty much had the better of their visitor in the first half but Alexandre Pato’s poor performance in that period earned him a substitution right into the second half, with Stephan El Shaarawy coming as replacement.
In the early part of the second half, Milan still manage to dominate proceeding but getting into the last 15 minutes, tiredness evidently growing on the home team and with plenty players out injured, there wasn’t much options for Massimiliano Allegri to keep the shape of his squad. In the other hand, Juventus can simply made changes without losing any qualities as they don’t have any injury issues on their camp.
That situation proved decisive as the Turin giant substitutes, Alessandro Matri, Mirko Vucinic and Simone Pepe managed to cause lots of problems in the last 15, proved by Matri’s disallowed goal few minutes after he replaced Fabio Quagliarella. It was a rather mistaken offside decision and might be called as a pay back for Muntari’s disallowed goal but obviously should Milan took a two goal lead, things would be different for Juve in the second half
After series of mistakes at the back, Milan pretty much gave away the goal for the Turin giant after Matri smartly get ahead of Thiago Silva and volleyed Pepe’s cross from the right side. The goal stunned the home team players as they immediately push up for another attacking raid, which eventually caused some nervousness among the visitors, forcing Arturo Vidal picked up a red card after stupidly tackling Mark Van Bommel.
Despite trying hard, Milan obviously were running out of time to get the winning goal and must be content with a draw, allowing Juventus to maintain their unbeaten record. The Rossoneri temporarily hold the league table but things could change as the Turin giant have a game in hand against Bologna, which could helped them leapfrogging Allegri’s team.
Match Reports:
Ac Milan v Juventus 1-1
Goals: Nocerino 15 (Milan); Matri 83 (Juventus)
Milan: Abbiati; Abate, Mexes, Thiago Silva, Antonini; Nocerino, Van Bommel, Muntari; Emanuelson (Ambrosini 71); Pato (El Shaarawy 46), Robinho
Juventus: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Lichtsteiner, Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio, Estigarribia (Pepe 46); Quagliarella (Matri 70), Borriello (Vucinic 53)
photo credit: VanDammeMaarten.be
