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Milan midfielder Franck Kessie saves a point with the last kick of the match to equalise Rodrigo Becao’s opener in a 1-1 draw at San Siro.
Milan, who got themselves back on track in the Scudetto race with a 2-1 win away to Roma on Sunday, were forced into several changes against Udinese, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Davide Calabria and Fikayo Tomori out.
Udinese arrived fresh from beating Fiorentina 1-0, despite an injury crisis ruling out Gerard Deulofeu, Ignacio Pussetto, Mato Jajalo and Fernando Forestieri.
But the Friuli had only won one of their last 13 Serie A trips to San Siro, 1-0 in September 2016, along with four draws and eight defeats.
And the home side had decided to make it a difficult evening for the Scudetto chasers, as the Bianconeri were compact and deep-lying, trying to hit Milan on the counterattack.
The visitors were sweating over Simon Kjaer’s condition, as the Dane went down after only one minute after a strange incident in the area.
But the centre-back was quickly back on the pitch and continued, as Milan continued to push Udinese back.
In a game of few chances, Franck Kessie’s clever turn inside the area appealing for a penalty was the biggest moment in the first 20 minutes.
He was brought down, but referee Massa waved play on, before Brahim Diaz minutes later had a long-range effort stopped by Juan Musso.
Milan struggled to get through and pushing to win the ball back in attack, Ante Rebic was booked for when he brought Rodrigo Becao down and continued to run towards the ball, booting the defender in the face accidentally.
Becao was treated for a bloody nose and continued to stop Milan from finding a way through.
The first 30 minutes were all about Milan, but it usually stopped in the last third, with Udinese having no intentions of applying a high pressure on the Rossoneri.
Theo Hernandez was booked after 31 minutes for a tough but what seemed a clean tackle on Molina, who went down screaming.
The cross mounted to nothing, however and Milan could break, but Hernandez was stopped and quite angry with the referee as he’s stopped on the counter.
Samu Castillejo had a big chance when he excellently beat his man and called Mussu into action after 38 minutes.
The Argentine goalkeeper stopped it with his foot and Theo wasted the following corner.
Milan were struggling to work out how to break down Luca Gotti’s men, who were mostly focused on their defensive duties at San Siro.
Stefano Pioli decided to bring on Soualiho Meite at half-time, replacing Sandro Tonali in the middle of the park.
It was Udinese who almost scored the opener at San Siro, with Alessio Romagnoli stopping the visitors on the line.
The centre-back stopped Ilija Nestorovski’s header, as Theo Hernandez’s back-pass was picked up by Pereyra, who dinked it over everyone, including Gianluigi Donnarumma, to find Nestorovski.
But the header was stopped on the line by captain Romagnoli, a potential match winning save from the defender.
Milan then responded immediately, forcing Musso into action in quick succession, first by substitute Meite’s long-range effort.
The goalkeeper tipped it over for a corner, where Kessie got his header on target, again held out by the shot stopper.
Castillejo forced another save by Musso, after 13 minutes of the second half, before Davide Astori’s picture was shown on the screen and play stopped to remember the former Italy international who died three years ago.
Great combinations from Udinese won them a corner in the 67th minute, and Becao went up highest to nod the ball towards goal.
It went through everyone, including Gianluigi Donnarumma, who expected a touch from some of the players ahead of him, and the ball awkwardly passed the Italy goalkeeper.
With Udinese fighting to keep out Milan for most of the game, the Friuli grabbed the first goal at San Siro, to put further pressure on a frustrated Rossoneri.
Udinese substitute Samir came on and went down only a few minutes later, but Gotti couldn’t replace him as he had used all his three windows already, meaning the Friuli had to finish the match with 10 men.
Fernando Llorente went down in the area in a duel with Kjaer, but the referee said it was no penalty and Milan were clearly getting frustrated.
Jens Stryger Larsen then gave Milan a helping hand, when he raised his left arm in the 96th minute and referee Massa pointed at the penalty spot.
Franck Kessie sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and saved a point with the last kick on the ball.
Not a great game by the Diavolo, who failed to apply pressure on League leaders Inter, who face Parma tomorrow.
Udinese did extremely well to hold them out for 90 plus minutes, but 10-men Friuli eventually had to share the spoils.
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