Ac Milan failed to break away from their closest rival, Inter Milan, after the Rossoneri followed their neighbor’s footstep in only getting a point from their opponent this weekend.
Milan that are supposedly eying to widen their margin with Inter left short after they were held into a 1-1 draw against bottom team Bari, in a very frustrating match for the home team that saw two goals disallowed and had Zlatan Ibrahimovic sent off.
Playing in front of their home crowd against the bottom table side, the Rossoneri players were probably guilty in getting a little bit overconfidence as despite controlling the game from the start, Milan players failed to convert their chances and concede a clumsy goal in the first half. Creating plenty chances right from the start, the home team were shocked when the away team get a goal from a nicely set up free kick that saw Rudolf unmarked and easily send his shot pass Christian Abbiati.
Chasing the game, in the start of second half, Milan stepped up their gear but series of poor finishing and refereeing decisions that not going on their way seemed to frustrate the home team especially when the Rossoneri got their two goals disallowed. The runs of emotion looking incontrollable midway into the second half as Ibrahimovic got himself sent off after making a retaliation towards Bari’s Marco Rossi.
Despite being 10 man down, Milan didn’t take off the attacking initiative although Bari did managed to scare the defense once in a while with their counter attack considering the fact that the away team did play with one man advantage. However, the Rossoneri still had much more control of the game and finally got the goal they were looking for after Antonio Cassano finally broke the dead lock for the Red and Black squad in the last 10 minutes before the game ended. The Italian international calmly volleyed Luca Antonini’s deflected cross inside the penalty area, deceiving the inform Bari’s keeper, Jean Francois Gillet.
Despite pouring in the pressure harder, Milan failed to get the winning goal that they were eying and pretty much letting their lead with Inter stuck at five points as the Nerazzurri also picked up a draw on Friday. With Palermo ahead of them next weekend, the task for the Rossoneri would be hard especially without Ibrahimovic on the squad, however with enough rest and focus, Massimiliano Allegri side are still pretty much ahead of the chasing pack in the Scudetto challenge.
Match reports
Ac Milan v Bari 1-1
Goals: Antonio Cassano 82 (Milan); Rudolf (39)
Milan: Abbiati; Abate, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Antonini; Gattuso (Seedorf 81), Van Bommel, Merkel (Emanuelson 46); Robinho (Cassano 56); Pato, Ibrahimovic
Bari: Gillet; A Masiello (Rinaldi 46), Glik, Belmonte, Rossi; Codrea, Almiron, Bentivoglio; Alvarez (Huseklepp 60), Rudolf (Kopunek 68), Ghezzal
photo credit: americanistadechiapas
