Juventusvs
AC MilanFor most of Sunday night at the Allianz Stadium, AC Milan were doing something quietly remarkable: absorbing everything Juventus threw at them, sitting deep, and looking entirely comfortable with it. Then Alphadjo Cissè put them ahead with twenty minutes left, and suddenly comfortable became dangerous.
Juventus had the ball — 49 percent possession, 14 shots, seven corners — and produced almost nothing with it. Milan had three shots all night, one on target, and their goalkeeper made four saves. Cabal, that was the whole story of the match compressed into a line.
Milan's Blueprint
Cissè's goal in the 68th minute was the reward for a disciplined away performance. Samuel Chukwueze picked up the assist, and the finish gave Milan the lead their defensive shape had been building toward. For the next twenty-odd minutes, the visitors protected it with the composure of a team that knew exactly what they were doing.
Juventus kept pushing — five offsides tells you they were throwing runners in behind — but the final ball kept letting them down. Their pass accuracy sat at 80 percent, and too much of that passing went sideways. Pervis Estupiñán picked up a yellow card in the 79th minute as Milan began to run the clock in their own way, mixing fouls with possession. Eleven fouls for the away side across the full ninety.
The 92nd Minute
Then came the corner. Teun Koopmeiners delivered it, Federico Gatti attacked it, and the ball was in the net. Koni De Winter was booked in the same moment — the 90+2 minute — as Milan's players surrounded the referee in protest. Gatti picked up his own yellow card four minutes later, as did Cissè, the pair apparently not ready to let the evening end quietly.
¡Ala gran púchica! — a center-back rescuing a point in the second minute of stoppage time, against a Milan side that had barely let Juventus breathe all night. It was that kind of finish.
Verdict
Our pre-match read made Juventus the favorite at 43 percent, but the result stayed closer to the draw column — and if anything, Milan will feel the harder done by. They executed their plan almost perfectly, led with one shot on target, and were undone by a set piece in the final moments.
Juventus, for their part, will take the point and move on, but the performance raised real questions. Fourteen shots, five offsides, and a 1-1 draw against a side that sat and defended. The question now is whether this Juventus side can break down a compact low block before the game gets desperate — because Sunday night, they couldn't, until a header bailed them out.
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