Serie A | Milan 1-1 Genoa: A crazy ending suits Inter more than anyone

Milan left it until the 92nd minute to rescue a point at home against Genoa in Serie A, and almost lost it in the final kick of the game from the penalty spot, but were relieved to see Nikolae Stanciu smash over from 12 yards. Lorenzo Colombo and Rafael Leao came up with the goals that did go in.

Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic were able to start alongside each other for just the second time this season, the first time since the 1-0 victory over Inter in November. It was a familiar Rossoneri set-up otherwise, with Youssouf Fofana, Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot starting alongside each other in midfield. Christopher Nkunku and Santiago Gimenez were unavailable through injury. 

Daniele De Rossi made just one change after his side’s 1-1 draw with Pisa over the weekend, with Alessandro Marcandalli replacing Sebastian Otoa at centre-back. 

You can see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.

Matteo Gabbia registered the closest effort of the opening period with a decent header from a corner that appeared to come off the crossbar on first viewing. Replays showed that Nicola Leali might have got a save to it. 

It had been a fairly quiet opening in San Siro, but it was the visitors who nicked the lead with their first shot on target half an hour in.

It was a brilliant delivery from Ruslan Malinovskyi, who found Colombo 10 yards out in the centre of the area. The 23-year-old made no mistake and punished his parent club with a well-taken finish.

 Milan’s biggest chance of the first half fell to Fofana, who made a meal of it in the most comical fashion. 

Leali made a brilliant reaction save to deny Leao in the area. The ball looked to have fallen perfectly for the unmarked Frenchman to poke home the rebound, but his standing leg gave way and he managed to slip over on the edge of the six-yard box before he could make contact. 

Again, it took Milan a little while to get going after kick-off. The Rossoneri did begin to mount some pressure midway through, winning a series of four corners within the space of four minutes, and Pulisic had the ball in the back of the net from the final one of those deliveries.

Gabbia got a brilliant flick-on to Davide Bartesaghi’s corner. There was an argument that the defender’s header was going in anyway, but Pulisic made sure it crossed the line at the back post. Replays showed, however, that he handled the ball on its way in, and the goal was eventually ruled out.

Bartesaghi came close to drawing Milan level after a great low-cross in off the byline from Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Pulisic didn’t quite get there on the first attempt and the full-back flashed just wide on the follow-up.

Milan’s biggest threats in the second half came from set-pieces, but approaching the final exchanges, it seemed like the chance wasn’t quite going to fall for them. 

Pulisic had one more opportunity before the final whistle, this time after a Strahinja Pavlovic cross, but the American’s volley drew the finest save of the game from Leali.

The Rossoneri finally capitalised on their opportunities from set-pieces in the second minute of injury time. Modric’s corner was flicked on at the back post, and Leao managed to squeeze a header through a congested penalty area to draw Milan level.

That wasn’t the end of it, though, as Zachary Athekame appealed for a Milan penalty in the following attack of the game. Nothing was given, and play was allowed to continue.

Then, down at the other end, in a moment of headloss, the otherwise encouraging Bartesaghi crashed into Mikael Ellertsson and gave away a blatant penalty in the final seconds of the game.

It was a fairly obvious call to make, but there were still several minutes of arguments and VAR checks. Mike Maignan earned a yellow for his protests.

And, after all that, Nikolae Stanciu stepped up and slammed a hopeless spot-kick over the bar to keep the scores level at 1-1, a result which suits Inter more than anybody. The Nerazzurri are now three points clear of Milan at the top of the Serie A standings. Genoa, meanwhile, move three points clear of the relegation zone.

Milan 1-1 Genoa 

Colombo (G) 28’, Leao (M) 90+2.