Milan aimed to grab another three points this evening after the comfortable 2-0 win against Cagliari on Monday evening. However, it wasn’t a good night for the Rossoneri as Atalanta put three past Gigio Donnarumma. And therefore, they failed to extend their lead at the top of the standings.
As a result of Milan’s loss, Inter had the chance to overtake them on goal difference (until the reverse fixture, at least) but Antonio Conte’s men failed to score against Udinese this evening. Stefano Pioli and his players are still in the lead, therefore, but their margin has shrunk to two points.
The derby, which will take place four weeks from now, will thus be very interesting and an important fight for both teams. However, Milan will struggle to beat their city rivals if they can’t learn from their mistakes this evening, as well as up their game in general. For perhaps the first time this season, they weren’t good at all.
The first few minutes were encouraging, with Rafael Leao in a good mood and Atalanta seemingly shocked. But after the first ten minutes, Atalanta took over completely and started to dominate the game. Milan never got back in the game after that and although the first two goals could have been avoided, the away side deserved to win.
Christian Romero, of all people, opened the scoring in the 26th minute as Pierre Kalulu failed to shrug him off at the back post. Not the strongest intervention by the young Frenchman, who sadly had to leave the pitch on a stretcher after taking a knock to his side. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious.
Milan had one good chance in the first half and it fell to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, exactly the man you want converting the chances. However, the Swede failed to hit the target at the back post after Sandro Tonali found him with a fantastic free-kick. The 39-year-old wasn’t at his best tonight and will be disappointed.
Therefore, the scores remained 0-1 as we headed into the break. Things didn’t get better in the second, though, as Atalanta got a penalty after just six minutes. Kessie stupidly elbowed Josip Ilicic in the face and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. The Slovenian converted it himself, although Donnarumma went the right way.
In the 70th minute, with Pioli hoping to change the course of the game, Ante Rebic and Mario Mandzukic came on. The latter, who signed his contract earlier this week, thus made his debut for the club and came close to scoring straight away. The ball fell to him in the box, but the defenders were able to make a big block.
And seven minutes later, Atalanta put the final nail in the coffin as Duvan Zapata scored his first of the game. With Milan stretched at the back, it wasn’t exactly hard for the Bergamo side. Due to several injuries, six minutes were added on to the game but the home side didn’t get any closer, registering their second loss this season.
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