Davide Nicola made a stunning Salernitana debut, as only Ante Rebic’s snapshot managed to earn leaders Milan a point at the Stadio Arechi in this thrilling 2-2 draw.
This was bottom against top in Serie A, although the hosts have two games in hand due to fixtures called off amid their COVID outbreak. They also made their debut under new coach Davide Nicola, their third of the campaign replacing Stefano Colantuono, with numerous signings in January.
Simone Verdi, Norbert Gyomber, Di Tacchio, Mamadou Coulibaly and Schiavone were injured, while the Rossoneri missed Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Simon Kjaer.
It was an aggressive Salernitana start, but Milan scored with their first foray forward. Theo Hernandez cut inside from the left and his through ball found a canyon through the middle of the defence, allowing Junior Messias to calmly pass it into the bottom corner.
Ivan Radovanovic went off with an ankle injury after just 15 minutes, while Luigi Sepe flew to fingertip Ismael Bennacer’s curling free kick out of the far top corner.
Serie A Liveblog: Sampdoria-Empoli, Roma-Verona, Salernitana-Milan
Salernitana equalised when Pasquale Mazzocchi sprinted forward on the counter from his own half, Mike Maignan failed to punch it off Milan Djuric’s head and Federico Bonazzoli improvised with a fantastic over-head kick from 12 yards.
Leao should’ve done better when set up by Olivier Giroud, but he hesitated and allowed Ederson to clear. Leao nearly scored a similar goal to Bonazzoli after the restart, meeting Sandro Tonali’s floated cross, but the acrobatic bicycle kick was inches wide of the far top corner.
Giroud nodded wide and forced a save one-on-one with Sepe, while Ribery rolled across just beyond Djuric.
Maignan made another uncharacteristic howler on 67 minutes that almost proved extremely costly. He was caught in possession and Bonazzoli tried to steer it into the empty net from a difficult angle with a rabona – when the ankles are crossed over and the ball is struck with the back foot – which was going in until the desperate Alessio Romagnoli goal-line clearance.
Salernitana did take the lead moments later, as Mazzocchi got down the right and whipped in a cross for the Milan Djuric diving header into the far bottom corner. Fikayo Tomori and Franck Kessie didn’t do enough to close him down.
The Rossoneri equalised straight away, as Ante Rebic hit it hard and true from outside the box into the near bottom corner and Sepe looked as if he was expecting it the other way, as he was completely wrong-footed.
Salernitana weren’t prepared to settle for a point and threw on two fresh strikers, as it remained open until the final whistle.
Salernitana 2-2 Milan
Messias 5 (M), Bonazzoli 29 (S), Djuric 72 (S), Rebic 77 (M)
Wasted opportunity
Inter just sitting back and laughing their behinds off. Pathetic, win a derby and mess up against the bottom team of the league, then you deserve to lose the title. Nothing learnt from last season and mentality is too weak.
I expected nothing else!!! We always drop nonsense points against smaller teams. And we face always teams with new couches and super motivated players who deliver 380%
Hahaha! If you don’t win against the Salernitana‘s and Spezia‘s you don’t win the Scudetto.
FORZA INTER! Tomorrow we will be 1!
Well, good luck to Inter and Napoli on the TRUE Scudetto fight.
Let’s just hope we hold on for top 4 !
Milan were never gonna win the league, why are there so many angry fans?? This is what makes this league so exciting!! You guys beat a much stronger inter who on paper should have beaten you 5-0. Just like this mornings result! It’s good for the neutral observer like myself who doesn’t lock myself into one team
I think Milan will take an eternity like never before to even get a 19th Scudetti still being stuck with the single star. It is sad to be hyping up Salernitana with a new coach thinking they’re prime Barca. True champions come to this type of ground and get the job done. We have seen it once upon a time when Juventus were themselves and Inter will eventually get the job done partially due to Milan spoon feeding them like today.
Poor again by Milan, it’s a bit of a worry for the state of Serie A that this squad is top.
Salernitana did well given their probably doomed position. Pepe was far too slow to react to Rebic’s goal, though.
Nice to see the bottom teams matching the top too – it happens in Italy more than England, despite what the epl marketing men would have you believe.
@ferban – to be fair Milan aren’t truly top, inter now have 2 games in hand. But surprises always happen in all leagues – Milan beating inter made the league more enjoyable even if they were completely dominated during match itself
Who said Maignan is the best goalkeeper in serie A?
Everyone has own bad day.
Maignan played one of his best game of the season against Inter then commited 2 howlers against lowly Salernitana. That was wild
Lady luck once again smiles upon us. Let’s hope Inter take full advantage of Milan’s slip up
May the best team win at the end of the season
I’m just here to RAGE
just wtf.. this players thought they already win a scudetto or what? frickin losers!
Reality Check: this is the true Milan.
I said it once and I’ll say it over and over again. Milan will drop points against weaker teams and that’s why they won’t win the league as long as Pioli is the coach. It won’t be long before top 4 will surprisingly be the main target. The words that can be said about Milan players is INCONSISTENT and LUCKY. This results in bad performances while still getting points. For Inter however they’re more consistent and produce good performances even when losing.
For the case of Maignan despite Milan fans thinking he’s the best keeper in the world he takes too much risks that will give any team a chance if they’re brave enough. The second mistake was more bad than the first one and it’s not the first time that he goes away from goal to try to tackle or get the ball. He did it with Inter in the derby. If teams focus on their pressing only on the keeper more goals will be conceded.
Pioli pioli pioli….how many times did I call you?you don’t change a winning team.this players need to be cautioned