On the evening of April 14, the 32nd round of Serie A continued, with second-ranked AC Milan away to Sassuolo, ranked 19th. In the end, Milan drew 3-3 with the opponent after falling behind by two goals in the opening stages, and remained in second place with a six-point lead over Juventus in the standings.
AC Milan have been on a smooth sailing run in the league recently, with five wins in a row, 14 points behind city rivals Inter Milan in the standings, and no hope of winning the title, but with a game in hand, they are five points ahead of Juventus behind them, and with seven games to go, the second place can be said to be quite solid. However, in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals in midweek, Milan was beaten by De Rossi's Roma at home and lost the game 0-1.
Sassuolo's situation is quite bad, this Serie A "giant killer" who once won Juventus and Inter Milan in the first half has fallen deep into the relegation zone. They have won just one of their last 11 league games and lost seven of them, and are 19th in the league with just 25 points after 31 games, two points behind 17th-placed Frosinosi with a game in hand. The team's number one star Berardi has also missed the rest of the season due to a serious injury and will not be back until around October.
In terms of starting this game, Milan, who also has the second leg of the Europa League and Roma in the middle of next week, sent a number of substitutes such as Jovic, Moussa, Adli, Kjaer, etc., and the main goalkeeper Maignan also chose to rest due to muscle fatigue, and the 31-year-old local goalkeeper, Sportiello, who has played twice in the league for the first time, was substituted, Giroud, Pulisic, Reinders, Bennacer, Gabia and captain Calabria and other main players were on standby. Rafael Leao, Loftus-Cheek, Te'o, Florenzi and others are still playing in this game.
Just three minutes into the game, Sassuolo developed an attack on the right side, Volpato broke away from the defense of Jiafu and crossed, Salzwaite cushioned his heel, Pinamonti scored with a right-footed volley, 1-0! Sassuolo got off to a dream start.
In the 9th minute, Sassuolo made a direct pass from the left, Lauriente used his speed advantage to shake off Florenzi and burst into the penalty area alone, his first shot was saved by Spaultiero, but then he scored a clever follow-up shot, 2-0! In less than 10 minutes of the opening game, Sassuolo led Milan by 2 goals.
Milan, who were two goals behind, woke up from a dream and then launched a series of attacks to try to reverse the disadvantage on the field. In the 13th minute, Florenzi's cross from near the bottom line on the right flank was saved by the goalkeeper from close range!In the 17th minute, Leao assisted Chukwueze to score a goal with a header, but the goal was disallowed because the latter was offside.
In the 20th minute, Leao burst into the penalty area with the ball on the left side and connected two defenders of the opposing team, and then scored with a low shot with his right foot, 1-2! Milan pulled one back. The 24-year-old Portuguese winger also scored in three consecutive league games, scoring 13 goals and providing 11 assists for Milan this season.
Subsequently, Sassuolo recovered, and the two sides fell into a long stalemate on the field. In the 38th minute, Leao leaned on a defender on the left side of the penalty area and chose to cross the pass, Spatillo's big kick was blocked by Sassuicide, and Milan almost lost the third goal due to their own low-level mistake.
In the 45th minute, Milan took a tactical free-kick from the left, Florenzi's powerful long-range shot was saved, and Te'o's follow-up shot was also saved by Sassuolo goalkeeper Conceili, and Milan missed the chance to equalize before half-time. At half-time, AC Milan had as many as 20 shots on goal but only scored one, while Sassuolo scored two goals from five shots to temporarily lead AC Milan 2-1 at home.
In the second half of the game, the two sides changed sides and fought again. In the 53rd minute, Adley's dribbling at the back was broken, and Sassuolo then organized an attack and scored from the center of the Laurient penalty area to make it 3-1!
Since then, AC Milan has made three substitutions in a row, with Giroud, Reinders and Gabia playing the three main players. In the 59th minute, Leao broke through on the left side and crossed with the outside of his instep, and Jovic scored in the middle, 2-3! Milan closed the score again. This goal was also Jovic's second goal for Milan in seven games.
In the 63rd minute, Chukwueze burst forward from the right and fired from a tight angle, but the goal was again disallowed for offside. The 24-year-old Nigerian winger was then replaced. In the 84th minute, Milan took advantage of a corner kick opportunity and was scored by substitute Okafor, 3-3!
After that, neither side was able to find the back of the net again, and the score remained 3-3 until the end, and Milan ended a five-game winning streak in the league and still sit in second place in the standings, but they are already 13 points behind Inter with a game in hand. Sassuolo picked up a crucial point on the road to relegation and are in 19th place with 26 points.