Early on Monday evening it was all about the league lead for Milan. With a win against Spezia, the Rossoneri could have overtaken Inter, but the Lombards ran into a counterattack in injury time and lost 1:2.
The starting position and the goal were clear: At the end of the match against Spezia Calcio, Milan should be in first place – one point ahead of (and one game more than) Inter. Accordingly, the Rossoneri were committed to the game, a quick lead was what Milan was aiming for after the energy-sapping cup match against Genoa (3:1 n.V.) last Thursday. The first chances were not long in coming, but Rafael Leao twice narrowly missed the target (2nd and 16th minute) – on his second chance Spezia keeper Provedel stood out with a first brilliant save.
Provedel first strong, then sloppy and hesitant against Rafael Leao
When Provedel also saved against Ibrahimovic (27th), the home side’s pressure eased a little, Spezia provided some relief, but then got themselves into trouble shortly before the break. After a throw-in to his own goalkeeper, Provedel handled the ball extremely badly, allowing Rafael Leao to dive in between. The two collided – and the somewhat confused referee initially ruled the ball offside. However, as the ball came from Spezia’s left-back Reca, this was rather nonsense. Milan protested, forcing the referee to go to the review area, where he could then clearly decide on a penalty for Milan. Theo ran on, loaded the keeper, but also pushed the ball just past the right post (45.+1).
The visitors from Liguria took a deep breath and thought they were already 0-0 up at half-time when a long ball flew into their half. Provedel hesitated to run out – and Rafael Leao lofted easily to make it 1-0 for Milan (45.+1). Coach Stefano Pioli’s eleven was on course for the lead – and the lead was highly deserved based on the share of play and chances.
Milan’s strength wanes – Joker Agudelo stings
After the break, the Rossoneri pressed for a quick decision, but Spezia’s defence was well organised and Milan’s attacking efforts became more and more transparent – poor standards did the rest to keep La Spezia in the game.
And the Ligurians felt that the Rossoneri were suffering from their dwindling strength, especially in the duels, where they lost their intensity after about an hour. The visitors took advantage of this in the 64th minute, when wild card Agudelo used a razor-sharp cross from Verde to equalise 1-1 – from a few metres, the striker pushed the ball into the net beyond the reach of goalkeeper Maignan. Milan was now knocked out, revealed too many gaps again, but for the time being they were not punished a second time. It was not until the 80th minute that Ibrahimovic & Co. went forward again and increasingly trapped the underdogs.
Post time: Drama in five acts
The real drama, however, came in injury time: Ibrahimovic failed to hit Provedel with a turning shot (90.+1). Rebic was fouled on the finish, the ball rolled on to the completely free-standing Junior Messias, who nailed the ball into the top left corner (90.+3) – unfortunately for the Lombards, however, the referee had whistled off the foul on Rebic milliseconds before the goal was scored. Ibrahimovic almost thundered the resulting free-kick under the crossbar – Provedel saved strongly (90.+4). And from the subsequent corner, “Ibra” headed for the short corner, Provedel wiped the ball onto the crossbar just before the line (90.+5).
But that was not enough: Milan plunged into an ever-increasing stupor from one minute to the next – and actually opened up the possibility for Spezia Calcio to make one last, fatal counterattack. Substitute Kovalenko crossed the ball to Gyasi, who, with the last action of the game, slid the ball into the far corner for the 2-1 victory (90.+6).
Milan’s dream of first place was shattered, while Spezia took revenge for their narrow 2-1 home defeat to the Rossoneri last September and were delighted with an important three points in their fight against relegation.
