Ismael Bennacer cancelled out the Ruslan Malinovskyi opener as Milan and Atalanta were forced to share the spoils in Bergamo.
This was the first big game of the Serie A season and an increasingly bitter rivalry between the Lombardy sides. Sandro Tonali returned from injury, replacing the hurt Rade Krunic, with Olivier Giroud and Divock Origi not ready to start and Zlatan Ibrahimovic out until 2023. La Dea missed Ederson and suspended Jose Luis Palomino, but surprised by starting Ruslan Malinovskyi amid transfer speculation.
Junior Messias was unmarked at the back post only to hit the side-netting, but Malinovskyi broke the deadlock when left far too much time and space on the edge of the area to sweep that ferocious left foot, aided also by a deflection off Pierre Kalulu’s knee.
Kalulu should’ve equalised early into the second half after Hans Hateboer was booked for a very high tackle on Leao, but the defender’s free header was over from six yards on the resulting free kick.
Hateboer also wasted a promising header, but Leao’s ferocious curler from outside the box skimmed the upright as it bent inwards.
Mike Maignan flew to fingertip a Mario Pasalic header out from under the bar and Charles De Ketelaere sent Tonali through with an inspired pass, but Juan Musso made the desperate save one-on-one.
Milan did equalise after a period of sustained pressure with a rather odd goal. Bennacer’s first attempt from outside the box was parried by Musso, the ball bounced off the corner flag to stay in play, Alexis Saelemaekers laid it off and Bennacer scored at the second attempt with a precise angled drive.
Berat Djimsiti hurt his ankle in the process of a desperate tackle on Divock Origi and Theo Hernandez sprinted from his own half, but was unable to set up Olivier Giroud.
Atalanta 1-1 Milan
Malinovskyi 29 (A), Bennacer 68 (M)
I can’t listen to this BS.. Atalanta was sitting back for 70 minutes who does that? Top team
Unfair result, Atalanta deserved to win.
2 points dropped against a poor Atalanta side who uncharacteristically sat back all match and had only 1 shot on target in each half. Milan could’ve and should’ve easily won if Messias, Kalulu and Tonali hadn’t missed sitters.
Now let’s drop Diaz back to his place, which is on the bench and start playing with 11 men from now on. The more CDK plays the better he gets. Adli should be the alternative.
We also miss Kessié and Leao is MIA. These contract situations keep hurting Milan every season.
lol @milan fans be like “wE havE a wElL bAlanCeD teAM aNd dO nOt nEeD a pRopeR sTriKeR aNd a wIngeR”, deluded clowns
We lacked the hunger and real drive of last season, but still should’ve won. Their goal came from a big deflection on a shot that was heading into Maignan’s hands. Kalulu had two free headers but failed to hit the target, and Messias too with an unexpected chance. Definitely 2 points lost. Atalanta played to get a point and got it.
@Alle.
Your cuckoo land dreams don’t really resemble much of reality do they? Bar the deflected goal, they created nothing else.
@seriafan
Let’s see at the end of the season what happens. Last season no one expected Milan to win and they proved everyone wrong.
Clear red card for high tackle on Leao. Disgusting challenge.
@Milanfan It’s called tactic. Sat back all match is part of tactic, especially in serie-A. The most important thing in every match is to grab points, and Milan failed to take 3 points.
more crap talk from from @serieAfan , again why dont you tell us who you follow instead of ohhh i like all teams bla bla bla ..
We should of won , we are rusty , we will click and staret winning very soon. Point against Atlanta away from home is not the worst result.
@ des
No kidding?! Did I say it’s not tactics? I said it was uncharacteristic of Atalanta and they were poor since they barely had a shot on target and gave away four or five clear cut chances to Milan too.