The clash between Pioli’s men and those of Thiago Motta ends 2-2. The Rossoneri reach 46 points and remain in third place. Empoli holds back Juve who are forced to draw. Vlahovic’s goal is echoed by Baldanzi’s. For the team of Allegri is and bad stop ahead of next week’s Italian derby. Atalanta wins 2-0 against Udinese with the networks of Miranchuk e Scam: fifth home success in a row in the championship for the Dea who at Certainly stage it seems insurmountable.
Milan-Bologna 2-2
Anything really happens between Milan and Bologna. More than a cooling break, an interruption to keep attention warm. Or, to quote Martin Luther King reported on the Meazza scoreboards, to shed light on the darkness of prejudice. The cell phones and the full moon above the Second Orange Ring don’t do it metaphorically either. The minute is number 16, same shirt number as Mike Maignan, victim of racial discrimination in Udine in the previous round. An obligatory stop for a game that travels fast on the tracks that between Milan and Bologna line up all the elements for an important match. However, the red arrow approaches the blue first and not the black, at minute 29. It is there Zirkzee network after pinball action: the Dutchman dictates the pass to Beukema, offers the ball which Fabbian sees blocked twice by Kjaer, before through Calafiori’s dirty play the ball returns to him for the decisive tunnel on Maignan. The former Pegswith the Emilians from 2011 to 2014, is facing him Thiago Motta to the hundredth in Serie A and who fields De Silvestri for the suspended Posch to redeem the only point in the last three outings. In the pre-match it was the play of strobe lights that raised expectations, after the minute of silence for Gigi Riva at the start it was the play on the pitch that met expectations. In the first 45 minutes there was room for 6 yellow cards, two expulsions and a missed penalty. That of Giroud, who telephones a comfortable left-footed shot for Skorupski. Context strongly contested by the rossoblù bench, so much so that Motta was given a red card for protests. The referee judged Ferguson’s leg to be high and Kjaer’s head, who had tried to intercept the cross from the right, not low. With a penalty saved, the excessive celebration of the visiting bench earned Colinet, Motta’s collaborator, a second red card. But not even time to digest, as Calabria sinks from the right and Loftus-Cheek with a split makes it 1-1. With the Rossoneri Camarda watching in the corner, the second half starts with Zirkzee controlling the area, but he shoots high. In the 19th minute Reijnders unleashes a right-footed shot that hits the top corner, but it’s just before the half-hour mark that the game takes off again: Leao collects a defensive clearance, takes the ball and gets the penalty for a foul by Beukema . Theo kicks, the post bounces off him and the Frenchman taps into the net, but the goal is not valid due to the double touch upon restart of play. Milan hadn’t missed two penalties in the same championship match since 1955 and yet, as in the first half, a missed penalty equals a goal scored: Florenzi raised the cross which headed Loftus-Cheek away to make it 2-1 7′ from time . It seems done for Milan. But Orsolini at the end cuts into the area where Kristensen is held back by Terracciano, who just moments ago made his debut for the Rossoneri. VAR confirms the penalty, which Orsolini scores to make it 2-2 in added time. Zirkzee and Orsolini on penalties, just like in the 2-2 draw of the Emilians against Inter. The team that belonged to Motta, like the South, had thrown him in his face at the moment of the red card.
Juventus-Empoli 1-1
Juventus slows down at the best moment: only 1-1 with Empoli in the sold-out Allianz Stadium, the opportunity, even just for one night, to bring yourself to +4 on Intera week after direct clash at San Siro. Celebrate instead Davide Nicola: 4 points in two games since his arrival on the Tuscan bench. Salvation will have to be worked out, perhaps until the last day, but after the 3-0 at Monza the point was won in Turin recharges the environment with optimism. Allegri thus has to postpone the goal of 1,000 points won on the benches of Serie A, but above all the hoped-for advantage over the Nerazzurri does not materialize which, in the psychological duel between guards and thieves, hares and hunters, Sinner and Djokovic, would have had its weight. Perhaps the Juventus coach regrets the choice to prefer Milik to the talent of Yildiz. It is precisely the Polish attacker, deployed for the first time in the season from the 1st minute as Vlahovic’s shoulder, who causes the mess: after just 17′ he enters with his hammer foot on Cerri, the yellow card raised by the referee Marinelli turns red after the VAR. With more than 70 minutes to play and an already not particularly brilliant start to the match, Juventus are left with one man less. And he won’t have Milik for the Italian derby. Empoli unexpectedly has the opportunity to lead the match – they will end the first half with 58% of ball possession – the impression is that Nicola is trying above all not to risk too much, the 3-man defense is well established, but a shot cross and a right from Cambiaghi make it clear that he will try to exploit his numerical superiority. McKennie limps a bit, Weah and Yildiz warm up, but Allegri waits to make changes. Little by little Juventus recovers and the juiciest goal-scoring opportunity, at the end of time, is Juventus’ own: Gyasi misses a horizontal pass, Miretti steals the ball and arrives in front of Caprile, but doesn’t hit the target.
Draw between Juve and Empoli (Ansa)
No changes at half-time, but the game soon changes with yet another Juventus goal of the season from a corner: Gatti sends the ball into Ismajli’s back and Vlahovic, very quickly, turns his left foot towards goal. For the Serbian striker it is the twelfth center in Serie A this championship. And it is he who is leading Juventus to try to double their lead. Nicola adjusts the team, the changes – Cancellieri and Baldanzi instead of Grassi and Cerri – give more brilliance. Alex Sandro anticipates Baldanzi on a cross cut into the area, then Cancellieri turns the header, but wide. And it’s Baldanzi, in the 25th minute who scores the equalizer with a right-footed shot from the edge of the area that leaves Szczesny stunned, on his knees.
Juventus loses clarity and suffers the blow: Empoli dreams of a coup, but is careful not to suffer the mockery. McKennie protests after a ball splashed onto Ismajli’s arm in the area, Empoli have success within reach at least twice, but first Cancellieri doesn’t believe in it enough then Szczesny blocks Cambiaghi’s shot. Nicola also plays Marin’s card for the free kick in the 95th minute, but the Romanian midfielder’s shot, almost coldly, ends up on the stands. Empoli was satisfied with a draw, Juventus also had to adapt.
Atalanta-Udinese 2-0
Atalanta beats Udinese 2-0 and smells the Champions League. Miranchuk heel, Scam as a pure center forward: 34 minutes to open the scoreboard and the start of injury time in the first half to put it in the safe. Against an Udinese with a deficit in the league table (1 point in the last 4 games), Atalanta continues its race towards the noble positions of the table, reaching the temporary fourth place after having struggled a bit to unlock its points, in the midst of a risk and the other brought by the guests with Ebosele and Samardzic. In the second half, however, there were few jolts on both fronts.
At the start the Friulians called for Thauvin’s depth towards the left, anticipated by Carnesecchi in a low exit, defending himself and restarting in an orderly manner. The first Bergamo conclusion in the mirror is Scamacca’s central shot beyond the tenth, reached from the left by Ruggeri. In the twelfth minute the same center forward widens too much from the area in combination with De Ketelaere and Miranchuk. Around the twentieth minute, the Bianconeri with a lowered center of gravity and three more chances for Gasperini’s men to take the lead: Scalvini gets the pass from Scamacca to open a slightly angled left-footed shot, De Ketelaere crosses weakly on Kolasinac’s long pass and finally Scamacca shoots again off balance on Ederson’s through ball and into the arms of the visiting goalkeeper. Then, the local advantage of Miranchuk, served in the cut in front of the small area by De Ketelaere on the exchange on the left with the winger Ruggeri. Carnesecchi immediately involved, because he had to oppose Ebosele with his feet following Thauvin’s cue. Cioffi’s team does not slip and, on the contrary, pushes, almost equalising. In the 37th minute, Lovric followed by Kamara and hit the ball badly with the outside neck and five minutes from the interval Samardzic, served by Carnesecchi’s short fist rebound from Thauvin’s incoming ball from the right, forced the home goalkeeper to raise it over the crossbar. It’s almost time for Scamacca to double their lead: Holm’s throw-in and De Ketelaere’s chest kick for the decisive turn on goal from the Nerazzurri trident’s goal.
Atalanta celebrates (Ansa)
At the start of the second half, Lovric’s throw backwards following Walace’s strike, again dealt with in the corner by Carnesecchi. Ehizibue, who replaced Ebosele on the flank, crashes into the wall of the Bergamo defense on a second ball conceded by Kolasinac ahead of Lucca. In the tenth minute Holm almost made it 3-0 by volleying De Ketelaere’s cross with his left foot, but Okoye found the right time to remove it from the corner to his left. The substitutes Payero and Pereyra did not add momentum to Udinese, while Miranchuk failed to close it out by centrally heading Ruggeri’s shot in the twenty-second minute in a sleepy match. Not even Lovric wakes him up after a free kick saved with some trouble by Carnesecchi. Pasalic didn’t sting in recovery and it ended like this, with Atalanta’s fourth consecutive home win.