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.
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