Draws for both AC Milan and Juventus brought extended Serie A winning streaks to a close for Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie and Tim Weah, while Gianluca Busio continued his strong form in Venezia’s important win in Serie B.
Juventus 1 – 1 Empoli
Weston McKennie earned yet another start in the Juventus midfield on Saturday, while Tim Weah played the final half-hour as a substitute in Juve’s disappointing draw at home against massive underdogs Empoli.
As per usual, McKennie lined up just to the right of central midfielder Manuel Locatelli, although he did spend more effort on the defensive end after an early sending-off for Juventus. He did complete 23 out of 29 passes, had 55 total touches, won three of four tackles, made one clearance and won seven out of nine duels.
With 18 places separating the two teams and the Bianconeri playing at their home of Juventus Stadium, where they had won eight out of 10 prior to kickoff, a straightforward victory for McKennie and his teammates seemed to be a nearly certain outcome.
However, an early red card to Arkadiusz Milik in the 16th minute for a reckless lunge at a loose ball, which took out Empoli’s Alberto Cerri in the process, changed the entire complexion of the game. The referee originally showed yellow for the infraction, but after a VAR review clearly showed Milik’s poor control and lifted boot, it was upgraded to red with little argument.
Nevertheless, despite Empoli using their man-advantage to get a better handle on the flow of the game for the remainder of the first half, Juve was still first on the board shortly after the restart.
After McKennie and Andrea Cambiaso teamed up on a nice show of footwork in the Empoli to earn a corner, the ensuing kick was headed downwards by Federico Gatti. No Empoli defender was able to clear it out of the area, leaving a sitting duck for Dusan Vlahovic to slam home from five yards for the 1-0 lead.
Just before the hour mark, Weah entered the game in place of Fabio Miretti, and was generally limited in his contribution, although he did pick up his second yellow of the season deep in added time.
Empoli did eventually equalize to earn a point, which they will still see as a missed opportunity to slay one of the Serie A giants in what is otherwise a campaign likely to end in their relegation.
The visitors put together an impressive string of short passes just around the exterior of Juve’s 18-yard box, perhaps somewhat aided by any lack of real pressure by the defense. Eventually, Sebastiano Luperto hit a short cut-back pass to Tommaso Baldanzi, who took several uncontested steps forward before lashing a low, hard shot the lower right corner for the equalizer.
While further extending an unbeaten run that stretches back to late-September, it does end a seven-game winning streak across all competitions, and moves them just behind leaders Inter. Their next outing is a highlight, first-versus-second battle against Inter on Sunday evening.
AC Milan 2 – 2 Bologna
Christian Pulisic did his part to help AC Milan stay in the game against a tough Bologna side, however a shocking two missed penalties by his teammates saw the Rossoneri forced to settle for a draw against their visitors.
Aside from playing a direct role in the build-up to Milan’s opener, Pulisic was rather subdued in his influence, taking only one off-target shot over his 87 minutes, creating a pair of chances, winning one successful dribble in five attempts, winning five out of 11 duels, and hitting only two out of five accurate crosses.
Bologna jumped to a surprise lead in the 29th minute, after Joshua Zirkzee received a slow-rolling, off-balance pass from Rriccardo Calafiori just to the right of the eight-yard box, and struck a low-right-footed shot to the far side.
With six minutes left in the half, Milan were given a perfect chance to equalize after Lewis Ferguson errantly kicked Simon Kjær in the face while attempting to defend a free kick in the area. Shortly after Bologna head coach Thiago Motta was sent off for arguing, Olivier Giroud’s low attempt to the right side was easily saved keeper Lukasz Skorupski, preserving the Bologna lead.
However, this didn’t last for long as moments before the half, Pulisic split a pair of Bologna defenders with a lobbed forward pass up the right into the path of the onrushing Davide Calabria. The Milan captain struck it goalwards with his first touch, where Ruben Loftus-Cheek had broken free and was able to easily beat Skorupski from short range for the 1-1.
Yunus Musah entered shortly before the hour mark in place of Yacine Adli, and had his usual tidy performance in the midfield, completing all but one of his 18 passes, winning his only dribble, accurately hitting his lone long-ball attempt out of the back, making one clearance, one interception and four recoveries, while winning one out of two duels.
With 17 minutes left, Milan were given the ideal chance for what would be a likely winner, when Bologna defender Sam Beukema clearly pulled down Rafael Leao as he entered the area after a darting run. However, this time Theo Hernández had the pleasure of blowing the penalty, striking the ball off the right upright, before the rebound goal was correctly ruled offside.
Still Milan once again stormed ahead, with Loftus-Cheek again the hero with a powerful header from a cross by Alessandro Florenzi in the 83rd minute.
While that looked to be the winner, Bologna still earned the point in the most appropriate ways of possible for this particular game, with Riccardo Orsolini striking from the spot after Pulisic’s replacement Filippo Terracciano tugged down Victor Kristiansen by the jersey at the end of regulation.
The draw breaks Milan’s five-game winning streak in the league, still leaving them in third place with a gulf of points separating them from the teams directly above and below in the standings. They next visit midtable Frosinone on Saturday.
Catanzaro 1 – 1 Palermo
Kristoffer Lund earned the start for Palermo on Friday evening, playing nearly the full game at left back as they earned a point at Catanzaro to stay in the thick of the Serie B promotion race.
While not adding much to Palermo’s offensive push, Lund had a strong outing on the defensive side of things, winning half of his eight tackles, making three interceptions and six recoveries, winning a remarkable 11 out of 13 duels, while committing no fouls.
He was blameless on the opening goal by their hosts in the 30 minutes, when a scramble of around the edge of Palermo’s six-yard box eventually ended with Catanzaro’s Tommaso Biasci opportunistically striking a hard shot from seven yards straight ahead for the lead.
However, Jacopo Segre equalized for Palermo four minutes after the restart, perfectly timing a short run and jump to head in Francesco di Mariano’s sharp cross from the right flank to the lower right corner of goal, securing the draw.
The result leaves Palermo in sixth place in the Serie B standings, five points off the pace for one of the two automatic promotion spots. They are back in action on Friday when they host Bari.
Venezia 1 – 0 Ternana
Gianluca Busio built upon his strong run as of late, scoring the only goal of the game, his fifth this season, in Venezia’s narrow 1-0 home win over Ternana on Saturday.
In an indisputable man-of-the-match performance, the North Carolina native had 51 touches, completed 89% of his 36 passes, took four shots, two of which were on-target, set up an additional two chances, won four out of seven duels and drew two fouls.
Tanner Tessmann started alongside Busio in Venezia’s central midfield, and put in what has become his typically solid, influential outing. He had 60 ball contacts, completed 41 out of 51 passes, set up three chances for teammates, accurately hit four out of seven longs balls and crosses, made three interception and five recoveries, although he did pick up his fourth yellow card of the season.
Apart from Busio, the most dominant player in the game was the heavy layer of fog that severely impacted visibility on the field, and undoubtedly also had some effect in the overall quality of play. Still, Venezia were by and large the aggressors for the majority of the game, putting five of their 19 shots on-target, and holding nearly twice the possession of their opponents.
The lone goal of the game came with six minutes remaining, thanks to the heavy pressure by Venezia leading to a turnover near the goal. Busio received the ball approximately ten yards out, just outside the left post, and one-timed his low shot that evaded the keeper’s grasp on its way to the lower right corner.
The goal might have inspired some feelings of deja vu, as Busio had also scored the late winner in Venezia’s 1-0 win over Ternana in the first meeting between these two teams back in early-November.
A late red card to Ternana substitute Andrea Favilli did little to change the direction of the game, as the hosts were happy to ride out the victory in the final moments.
The result leaves Venezia barely outside the automatic promotion spots, as they are even on points with second-place Cremonese but trail on tie-breakers. They next face what might be their toughest test of the season, paying a visit to first-place Parma on Saturday.
Notes
After joining Serie B club Como during the week, Nicholas Gioacchini was not called upon to make his debut on Saturday in the team’s surprising 2-0 home loss to relegation candidates Ascoli. The loss drops Como into the promotion playoff spots, and the American will be looking to make his first appearance for the club on Saturday when they visit Ternana.
Andrija Novakovich occupied his usual spot at center forward for Lecco on Saturday afternoon, as a 5-1 loss at fellow bottom-feeders FeralpiSalo saw them sink deeper into relegation trouble. They are now last place in Serie B, with a tough home match against second-place Cremonese awaiting on Saturday.
