Milan punctures again and puts its leadership at risk

Milan is still determined to give life to its rivals in the fight for the ‘scudetto’. If on the previous day he left a 2-2 in his visit to bottom Salernitana, today he played again against Udinese in San Siro (1-1) and could not stand out in the leadership of Series A.

Milan’s advantage is three points, so Inter will overtake them on goal difference if they beat Genoa at home tonight. Napoli, third also three points off the top, will visit Lazio on Sunday.

call for peace

The game, like all those that will be played this day in Italy, started five minutes late from the time initially set as a symbolic gesture against the war in Ukraine and to launch a call for peace. A statement was read over the loudspeakers while the word ‘Peace’ was read on the video scoreboards.

Milan dominated the first half, had the initiative, but had a hard time generating chances against a Udinese team that did everything looking for the back of the local defense with balls directed at their two attackers, Beto and a highly motivated Gerard Deulofeu against his former team.

Deulofeu, ‘on fire’ but Leao scores

The Catalan winger who emerged from Barça came out ‘on fire’ and had the first chance of the game in the 13th minute when, after a bicycle kick against Theo Herández, he released a shot that skimmed the crossbar.

Udinese did not return, despite Deulo trying, to disturb Milan again, who advanced after half an hour through Rafael Leao after a perfectly centered ball by Sandro Tonali. The Portuguese winger displayed great control with the outside of his right foot and scored with the inside (29′). It is his eighth goal in Serie A, fourth in the last eight games.

Milan plays with fire and burns

After the break the situation changed. Milan, as in other previous games, disconnected and ended up losing control of the game. Udinese kept looking for Beto and Deulofeu and warned before equalizing. First, he called for a possible Fikayo Tomori penalty against Beto (49′) and later Tolgay Arslan touched the goal with a did-shot, after a soft defensive clearance, that licked the post (59′).

The 1-1 could be seen coming and it came in the 66th minute after a shot by Deulofeu that was rejected by a defender. Roberto Pereyra played as a bicycle kick and the recently entered Iyenoma Udogie, close to goal, pushed the ball with his body, according to the VAR, since the Rossoneri players protested that he went with his hand.

Without Ibra, there was no reaction

Milan played with fire, burned out and, without ideas in attack in the absence of a Zlatan Ibrahimovic who has been out for a month, barely had the power to react. Mike Maignan blocked a shot from Pereyra after a loss by Ante Rebic (75′).

Udinese defended well, as they only had a moment of trouble when Pablo Marí headed in under the crossbar after Leao kicked before goalkeeper Marco Silvestri came off (77′). On the other hand, Deulofeu had the victory in his boots with a great shot from the edge of the box hit the post that Maignan took.

An important point for Udinese, 14th in the table, in their fight for permanence that leaves them 4 of the relegation places and confirms itself as a rival that resists Milan since the last three times they have met They have finished with 1-1.