It was a bandaged and rather minimal AC Milan, mostly in defense (where Musah was employed as an adapted right-back) that presented itself at the Stadium to play the so-called “play-off for 2nd place” on the Juventus pitch. At the end of 90 minutes plus extra time of extreme suffering, the Devil, without being enchanting, did what he had to do: with the 0-0 draw, Juventus’ ambitions of a comeback for second place in the championship, behind Inter, were once again put to rest. .
It was a performance of great organization and collective suffering the one staged in Turin. Zero shots on target by Szczesny and many saves by Sportiello, as well as a save with an empty net by Thiaw: that’s what it took for the Devil to bring his skin intact home from the Stadium.
In the post-match press conference, Pioli said he was happy of the point taken home: “It’s a satisfying draw. It’s true that we never had a shot on target, but we always created the conditions to score. Second place isn’t conquered. We want to win as many games as possible and we have the duty to give our all maximum until the end”. In the meantime, rumors continue to swirl about the coach’s future (in the last few hours he has jumped back into pole position for the future Lopetegui’s bench) but AC Milan CEO Furlani demands respect for the current technical guide: “We have a coach called Stefano Pioli, the season didn’t go the way we wanted but because we are Milan. Now we are focused on winning second place. There are many rumors going around, we want to work harsh. All these rumors are a bit annoying, and now let’s say enough because we would like to play football and win matches to stay in second place.”
