Consistency has been the problem for Gigi Del Neri’s Juventus so far this season, but they went into tonight’s match at San Siro with a chance to tighten up an already fraught upper region of the table.
Milan were third in the table at kick off, a point behind rivals Inter with a game in hand and two behind Lazio.
Despite a late scare, Juventus took three points away from San Siro in a match in which they largely looked to attack on the break and certainly didn’t dominate, and move to within two points of their hosts.
Milan almost took the lead inside a minute. Ronaldinho, Alex Pato and Zlatan Ibrahimovic combined to expose a Juve defence operating without the imperious Giorgio Chiellini, who was ruled out half an hour before the game began. Just five minutes later the Duck brilliantly laid on an effort for Ibrahimovic that bent over Marco Storari and hit the angle of the goal. The young Brazilian was then flagged offside in a questionable decision when through on goal. In the ninth minute, Storari got down well to turn away an Ibrahimovic shot, again set up by Pato.
The Rossoneri were absolutely rampant and Pato was in dazzling form early on. Juventus battled their way back into the game as it became stretched and prone to errors. The first 20 minutes were entertaining and fast-paced, but the goalkeepers were relatively untested with the exception of Ibra’s early strike.
Even with their improvement, the Bianconeri’s opening goal in the 23rd minute came against the run of play. Paolo De Ceglie took a touch on the left wing and eyed up an inch-perfect cross for Fabio Quagliarella. The Neapolitan leapt high and sent his header spinning past Christian Abbiati into the top corner.
Milan’s next attack resulted in a free kick, which Andrea Pirlo sent just wide of goal. A couple of minutes later Alessandro Del Piero forced a save from Abbiati after forging forwards and using Quagliarella as a decoy. A first half substituton was enforced by a thumping clash of knees between De Ceglie and Daniele Bonera, who looked to be in serious pain and was replaced by Ignazio Abate. After playing on briefly, a limping De Ceglie made way for Simone Pepe as the Bianconeri ran out of full backs.
Despite fluffed headers by Kevin-Prince Boateng and Ibrahimovic, it was the visitors who finished the half strongest. Abbiati almost dropped a chance for a second goal right at their feet but they went in at half time with the slenderest of leads only intact because of a snatched shot by the rangy Swede. They were counter-attacking well, taking advantage of some uncharacteristically loose passing by Milan’s midfielders.
The second half began just as the first had ended, with Ibrahimovic looking far from sharp. Within five minutes, he’d given the ball away unnecessarily twice and dawdled over a good chance that he should have despatched for the equaliser. Juve quickly lost another man to injury. Jorge Martinez broke at pace after some clever defending but pulled up with an apparent hamstring injury and was replaced by Momo Sissoko.
The weakened Juve side seemed keen to take the sting out of the game by the middle of the second period, but the best Milan could muster in the first 15 minutes was a breathtaking first touch that took a mostly anonymous Robinho past his full back to set up the chance to pull the ball back for Ibrahimovic. The striker stepped over the ball to leave it for Pato, who was in a far less threatening position and did well to get any kind of shot away.
The second goal for the visitors was as shambolic as they come. A long diagonal ball was taken well by Sissoko, who had all the space and time in the world but made an awful hash of the opportunity. Back on his feet, he managed to force the ball back for Alessandro Del Piero, who thrashed it effortlessly into the corner of the net with 25 minutes to go.
As Milan looked to get back into the game, their attacking players struggled to link up in dangerous positions, with Pato and Ibrahimovic failing to connect with a one-two on 71 minutes. It was Pato who inexplicably became the man to go off when Max Allegri made his final move. With Clarence Seedorf already on, it was former Juventus striker Pippo Inzaghi who represented the Rossoneri’s last roll of the dice. Milan’s Sokratis headed over in the 77th minute and in the aftermath shoved Felipe Melo, who put on an irritating show of play-acting which thankfully was ignored by the referee.
Allegri’s decision to select Pato for substitution was justified with nine minutes left. For the second time in succession, Robinho beat a man before passing to an overlapping Luca Antonini. This time, his cross found Zlatan Ibrahimovic who headed powerfully past Storari to give the home team hope of taking a point.
In the final minute Milan had a couple of great chances. Abate crossed low only for his dangerous pass to escape a meaningful touch, and his second attempt found Inzaghi but the veteran could only control it into Storari’s arms. Juventus held on well for the five minutes of stoppage time and Milan were left licking their wounds ahead of their return clash with Real Madrid in the Champions League.