“In all three main matches of the 18th round of the Italian Serie A, draws were recorded.”, — write: football.ua
In all three main matches of the 18th round of the Italian Serie A, draws were recorded.
Milan – Roma, Getty Images December 29, 2024, 11:45 p.m
And in fact, the game at San Siro risked becoming decisive for both of its participants. Because “Wolves” continue to find themselves under the leadership of Claudio Ranieri, but a failure in the game against one of many competitors could have cost them a lot. In the “Rossoneri”, by and large, the situation was similar, with the only remark that Paulo Fonseca, unlike Ranieri’s two predecessors, was not fired due to poor results in the current campaign. And many questions have already accumulated for Milan.
The hosts of the field started the confrontation with their own attacks, but it is unlikely that the Rangers’ long-range shot could come close to Dovbyk’s shot at the near post from the right wing of the penalty box in the 11th minute. However, almost immediately after that, Roma still missed, because somewhere they got carried away with the attack and at the 16th minute, Fofana and Morat played a lunge on the left flank with a pass for a shot from Rangers to the opposite side of the penalty area.
Milan then tried to pin down the opposition again and came close enough to score a second through moments from Morata and Theo, but partly helped by the Spaniard’s lack of accuracy and partly by Svilar, who dealt with long-range shots quite calmly. Against the background of the “Rossoneri” attacks, the moment at the 23rd minute looked unexpected, when a pass from the depth of the field to the center of the penalty area for Dovbyk ended with a reset under Dybala’s kick with the heel.
Roma played really well, but their performance in this first half was nowhere near attractive. And the main focus shortly before the break shifted to the referee, who initially did not see reasons for a penalty when Rangers fell in the center of the Roman penalty area, after which the episode moved to the center of the field, where Theo and Morata first caught fire, and then Fonseca could not stand it, so Milan went into the second half already with personnel losses.
Despite the fact that after the break we actually came back with a moment from Dovbyk, who shot into the near corner from the right wing of the free kick, but Menyan parried the corner, the start of the second half of the game can be safely left to Milan. After all, Roma couldn’t create anything for a long time, but during moments with long-range shots, Chukweze and Bennaser could have missed, but Svilar didn’t let that happen.
And then Chukweze suffered a muscle injury, and while the forced pause in the game lasted, the players of both teams clearly had time to cool down, so nothing interesting happened until the very final part of the game. And there, the “wolves” were repulsed by the efforts of El Shaarawi, but Menyan did not want to miss his shot, similar to Dovbyk’s shot, but into the upper corner.
In the next round, Milan will play against Juventus in the semi-finals of the Italian Super Cup, while in the championship they will host Cagliari of Sardinia, and Roma have a home derby against Lazio.
Milan — Roma 1:1
Goals: Rangers, 16 — Dybala, 23
Milan: Mengyan – Emerson, Thiaw, Gabbia, Hernandez – Terracciano (Bennacer, 46), Fofana – Chukweze (Abraham, 61), Reynders, Jimenez – Morata (Camarda, 86).
Roma: Svilar – Mancini, Hummels (Celik, 46), Ndika – Salemakers (El Shaarawy, 79), Kone (Pellegrini, 46), Paredes, Pizilli, Angelinho – Dybala, Dovbyk (Shomurodov, 86).
Warning: Hernandez, Morata, Rangers – Kone, Hummels, Paredes, Celik