By Petar Todorovski
AC Milan and Udinese played a breathtaking game in their latest battle in Serie A. Although favorites, Rossoneri never managed to take the lead but have a draw, however, with the stoppage time equalizer by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Udinese tried to surprise their opponents from the start and managed to pressure them, but Rossoneri were the team that threatened first, as Alexandre Pato’s shot in 10th minute finished wide.
Udinese had their first serious opportunity in 25th minute when Goekhan Inler’s attempt finished wide. Few minutes after Christian Zapata also had a chance, but failed to score.
Their next chance meant taking the lead. In 35th minute Antonio Di Natale scored a volley goal and made Milan to hunt an equalizer. Zlatan Ibrahimovic failed to score in his two chances right after the goal, but managed to pass perfectly to Pato who could do nothing but to net the ball in 45th minute.
The first half ended with 1-1 draw. That meant that the host and leaders of the table Milan had to search for another goal to keep their Scudetto winning chances strong. Robinho almost made it early in the second half, but Samir Handanovic saved his goal.
Minutes later Alexis Sanchez punished that. His compatriot from Chile Mauricio Isla made a great cross and passed an excellent ball to the young Udinese talent and the guests had the lead again.
Milan responded well and started attacking with all of their power. Neverheless, it didn’t pay off. Antonio Di Natale made Daniele Bonera look foolish after Inler’s great play in midfield and scored the goal that brought them two goals lead.
Milan now had nothing to lose and started attacking even more. Robinho’s shot in 71st minute was denied, but the cross of Thiago Silva “helped” Benatia to score an own goal. Milan was back.
Then the real show began. Rossoneri thought they managed to win a point when pato equalized in 81th minute after Antonio Cassano’s assist, but German Denis sonverted into goal another superb cross by Mauricio Isla in 89th minute.
It seemed that Milan will lose a home game for a first time this season, but they still have Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede saved his team from defeat second before the full time whistle and ended the thrilling game with justified result.
After the game Milan Coach Masimiliano Allegri expressed his opinion that the draw was fair result. “We know that Udinese are strong on the break, we had a good first half, they too had a good game, and then in the second half we conceded two easy goals. But we did not give up when 3-1 down and could of even won it at the end. But I think the draw is the right result,” he old the press.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic showed his winning mentality and stated: I don’t know if this is a point earned or two dropped. We conceded four goals at home and this is never a good thing.” However, he had to admit that point wasn’t bad result against side like Udinese. “Nevertheless with 13 minutes left to play, they were winning 3-1 and therefore we have to be satisfied with a point. Now we must continue to work and look to avoid such risks in the coming games,” he said.
Now AC Milan tops the table with 40 points, four ahead of second placed Napoli. They could stretch the advantage in the second round as they travel away to Lecce, one of the weakest teams in Serie A.
