AC Milan on Monday slipped up in Serie A’s race for the UEFA Champions League after allowing struggling US Salernitana 1919 to escape the San Siro with a 1-1 draw.
Reigning champions Milan could have drawn level on 50 points with second-placed Inter, but stay fourth following Boulaye Dia’s 61st-minute leveler after Olivier Giroud had headed the hosts in front on the stroke of halftime.
It was a deeply disappointing result after coming into the match on a high following qualification for the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday last week.
Photo: AFP
“We had to do better, this was a chance and we knew it was ... we need to grow up a bit,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli told Sky Italia. “We need to grow mentally, because we’re a team that should be competitive both in Europe and Italy. We’re playing five days after a good performance which should have given us energy and intensity, and looking at how we conceded our goal we were lacking something.”
Giroud’s eighth league goal of the season came only moments after goalkeeper Mike Maignan had stopped Dia netting for Salernitana with a superb tackle on the edge of the penalty area.
Pioli’s side were denied the chance to go back ahead from the penalty spot midway through the second half when referee Federico la Penna overturned his own decision to awarded a spot-kick for a Domagoj Bradaric foul on Ismael Bennacer.
Guillermo Ochoa then pulled off two superb saves to deny Divock Origi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, while Alessandro Florenzi watched aghast as his late effort fell into the hands of Ochoa, who was prone on the goal-line.
“When you play a great team like Milan you know you’re going to have to dig in,” Ochoa said. “It’s a great point for the future, for our chances of survival.”
Milan drawing is great news for Inter, who fell to a shock defeat at Salernitana’s relegation rivals Spezia on Friday last week.
Inter might have fallen 18 points behind champions-elect SSC Napoli, but none of their rivals for the remaining three places in the top four won over the weekend.
Just three points separate Inter and fifth-placed AS Roma, with Atalanta BC another five points back in sixth after being run over by the Napoli title train on Saturday.
Salernitana stay 16th, but maintain a seven-point gap between themselves and Hellas Verona, who sit just inside the relegation zone.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS