Milan fell to their second consecutive Serie A defeat, as Alessio Romagnoli scored and was sent off, as Gianluca Scamacca gave Sassuolo a shock victory at San Siro.
The Rossoneri had a mixed week, suffering their first Serie A defeat of the season, yet winning away to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. Olivier Giroud joined Fikayo Tomori, Davide Calabria, Samu Castillejo and Ante Rebic on the treatment table, but Mike Maignan made his comeback in goal way ahead of schedule, having originally been ruled out for three months after wrist surgery on October 12.
Sassuolo had Davide Frattesi available after winning an appeal against his ban, though Jeremie Boga and Filip Djuricic were injured.
Milan took the lead when a short corner was taken for Theo Hernandez, finding the smart Alessio Romagnoli header at the near post to surprise Andrea Consigli.
It lasted just three minutes before Gianluca Scamacca surged forward and unleashed a screamer from distance that flew into the far top corner, giving the returning Maignan no chance.
Sassuolo penalty appeals were rejected for Brahim Diaz handball, as his arm was flush to the torso.
The visitors turned the game around completely from another corner, as it was only cleared as far as Scamacca, whose shot was parried by Maignan’s leg, but only to ricochet off Simon Kjaer and back into the net from a couple of yards.
They almost capitulated completely, Maignan getting to a Giacomo Raspadori angled drive and Scamacca nodding wide.
Milan’s midfield was providing no protection, so Franck Kessie and Junior Messias were introduced at half-time.
Rafael Leao, Alexis Saelemaekers and Zlatan Ibrahimovic had hopeful efforts off target, but they were rarely threatening.
Instead, Sassuolo extended their lead when Kessie and Sandro Tonali failed to clear, Berardi sent Romagnoli to ground with a dummy and nutmegged Maignan from a tight angle.
Kjaer’s header skimmed the far post and Theo Hernandez was fortunate to avoid a second yellow card for a row with Frattesi.
Junior Messias saw his angled drive beaten away at the near post for a corner, but it went from bad to worse with Romagnoli shown a straight red card for his rugby tackle on Gregoire Defrel on the edge of the box, after being skinned for pace.
Maignan parried a Berardi free kick to keep the scoreline down.
Milan 1-3 Sassuolo
Romagnoli 21 (M), Scamacca 24 (S), Kjaer og 33 (S), Berardi 66 (S)
Sent off: Romagnoli 76 (M)
That goal from Scamacca was a thing of beauty. Being objective I said a few weeks back that Inter would soon overtake ACM and I am being proven correct. Pioli is a nice guy and good man manager, but he is not an elite coach with the eye of the tiger. Milan play good football but the lapses in concentration has cost them. Kessie is not focused, lost the ball twice before the Berardi goal, could not move an easy ball across the field and not worth the money. Also Alexis brings nothing. You cannot win the title losing back to back games and conceding that many goals. The old Juve and the present Inter do not make these mistakes. There is not enough quality, grit and depth in this Milan squad. Buying young players is good but not having world class players in key roles is biting hard. Gazidis replicating the Arsenal model will not bring in trophies. I think that having a tough group in CL has stretched them too far and they are tiring. Mark my words Inter will overtake either next week or week after and will win the title easily. They are the better team, have more quality, more consistency and greater depth as well as experience. My Juventus are a joke right now and I admit it not here to gloat. If Milan cannot win when we are down, sadly I cannot see them doing it for a very long time. It hurts me to say but I think the next few years is the Inter era.
@Uncle Z
😂😂😂
Romagnoli was appalling. That’s it he needs to go. In January we need prioritise a CB.
Great shot by Scammacca. Laughable defending by Kessie and Romagnoli for Berardi’s goal. Romagnoli looked like an OAP trying to stop Berardi.