Calhanoglu earns AC Milan point against excellent Verona
AC Milan’s hopes of reaching the top six for the first time this season were dashed by a brilliant Hellas Verona, who held the Rossoneri to a 1-1 draw at the Stadio San Siro on Sunday afternoon.
The Gialloblu proved the better side overall, as they produced an impressive display and had several chances to find a winner in the second half.
On the other hand, Stefano Pioli’s side struggled to create goal-scoring opportunities without Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Verona looked the more confident side in the opening minutes, as Ivan Juric’s choice to deploy Valerio Verre as a false 9 seemed to give his side better midfield control.
After 13 minutes the Gialloblu combined well down the left flank, allowing Mattia Zaccagni to deliver a precise cross that Davide Faraoni slotted home at the second post to put the visitors ahead.
The Mastini continued to look threatening on the break after taking the lead, as well as showing their trademark defensive solidity which has made them one of the best defences in the league so far.
However, the hosts were lucky to find the equaliser seconds before the half-hour mark, when an Hakan Calhanoglu’s freekick was deflected into the goal by Verre.
The Rossoneri could have completed a comeback in the space of a few minutes but Ante Rebic wasted a lethal counter-attack led by Rafael Leao – the Croat was put through on goal by Samuel Castillejo but after trying to round Marco Silvestri he couldn’t find the room to fire home from a tight angle.
Stefano Pioli’s men looked lively in the closing minutes of the first half, although their pressure didn’t pay off.
After the interval Verona looked once again more organised than their opponents and they went close to score a second as Matteo Pessina was found unmarked in the box by a nice Darko Lazovic’s cross, but his header hit the post.
Juric’s side continued their stubborn pursuit of the lead but Zaccagni’s left-footed powerful attempt slammed against the goalpost once again.
The match looked set to turn on its head a few minutes later, when Verona’s Sofyan Amrabat received a red card for a tough challenge on Castillejo following a second look by VAR.
However, despite being one man down the visitors didn’t concede any cut-clear chance to the Rossoneri until injury time, when Theo Hernandez forced a save by Silvestri and Castillejo collected the rebound only to be denied by the post.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com
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