Serie A | Milan 0-1 Parma: Rossoneri suffer shocking first defeat in 24 rounds

Milan paid the price for insipid finishing and sluggish defending, as Parma inflicted their first Serie A defeat since the opening weekend, leaving them 10 points behind Inter.

The Rossoneri slipped seven points behind leaders Inter after a rescheduled Week 24 midweek game, held 1-1 by Como, which also saw Max Allegri sent off and therefore suspended here. Strahinja Pavlovic was only fit for the bench and Santiago Gimenez out, but Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek made full recoveries, and Adrien Rabiot returned from his ban. Matteo Gabbia pulled out in the warm-up, replaced by Koni De Winter, as Davide Bartesaghi was in a new role for the back three. Parma were coming off back-to-back victories, with Alessandro Circati suspended, Abdoulaye Ndiaye, Zion Suzuki, Pontus Almqvist and Matija Frigan injured.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Alexis Saelemaekers put in a remarkable rabona cross, but Loftus-Cheek and Edoardo Corvi clashed heads trying to reach it. The English midfielder came off considerably worse and had to be stretchered off, replaced by Ardon Jashari.

Corvi was right behind efforts from Christian Pulisic and Jashari, then rushed off his line to parry the Pulisic strike from a tricky angle.

There was a big Milan chance just before half-time when Rabiot nodded down the Bartesaghi ball over the top and Pulisic drilled wide from 14 yards.

Rafael Leao was booked for simulation after going down theatrically in the box, but moments later Milan had a huge double opportunity.

Leao ran into the Saelemaekers through ball and Corvi rushed out to push it off his feet, Pulisic gathered the rebound and was denied in front of an empty net by the desperate Mariano Troilo tackle.

Parma were largely pinned back, but came close to taking the lead when Emanuele Valeri at full stretch didn’t connect with a cross, forcing Mike Maignan into a tricky save.

Rafael Leao was unfortunate not to break the deadlock on 64 minutes when a poorly-cleared corner came back to the far post, his acrobatic right-foot volley bounced off the inside of the near stick, rolled along the line and back out the other side.

Pavlovic came off the bench and nodded a free kick wide, but Parma did get the ball into the net when Mariano Troilo jumped over Bartesaghi at the back post to nod in a corner. The referee initially awarded a foul, but Valenti stood in the way of Maignan more than fouled him, so the goal was allowed following a VAR review.

Niclas Fullkrug headed a corner over, then saw another attempt deflected inches wide of the near post.

Milan 0-1 Parma

Troilo 80 (P)