AC Milan found themselves on the winning side of a result at the Tardini for the first time since the 2011/12 Serie A season. Coach Filippo Inzaghi won his first match away from home as Milan coach and continues to inspire this team. Milan is trying to rebound from a disappointing 2013/14 campaign where they did not qualify for any European competitions.
Giacamo Bonaventura opened up the scoring in the 25th minute to give Milan a 1-0 lead. Keisuke Honda registered the assist on the play and Bonaventura let it go through him to his left side and then shot it across the goal on a bit of a chip shot. Everyone was celebrating as it was Giacamo’s 100th Serie A appearance and his first goal in a rossoneri kit.
Clearly, this one was a wild one
Just two minutes later, Antonio Cassano tied up the game after he crashed the box and the header slipped right past keeper Diego Lopez. Milan would strike back in the 37th minute when Ignazio Abate laced in a superb cross that saw Honda crashing the box for the goal on the header. Keeper Antonio Marte couldn’t do anything to stop it. Honda continues his strong play this season with another very impressive game.
Milan then received a bit of a gift when the referee granted the rossoneri a penalty kick due to Alessandro Lucarelli holding back the Milan player. He did put his hand on him, but it was a pretty good sell from the Milan player. Jeremy Menez sank the penalty to give Milan the 3-1 lead going into halftime.
Parma cut the lead back to one with a goal from Cristoba Jorquera. He received the ball on a beautifully crossed ball into the box from the middle to the right side. Lopez tried to sell the offside but the goal stood in the 51st minute. In the 58th minute, Daniele Bonera was shown his second yellow on a handball. He slid in to try to disrupt the move but kept his hand up and it was a clear foul.
Nigel de Jong took advantage of his own opportunity as he disrupted the play at midfield but was right next to the last defender. He broke down the field with help on his left but he chipped it past the keeper to capitalize and make the score 4-2 despite the 10 vs. 11 play.
In the 73rd, Raffaele Palladino crossed the ball in perfectly to reach Lucarelli. Alessandro headed the ball in the top right corner of the goal while Lopez was shading to the left and Parma would cut the game back to 4-3. The game turned on its head when Menez sold his second foul of the game and gave Felipe his second yellow of the game. It is incredibly hard to see how serious the foul, if there was one, but it looked like Menez sold it once again. Upon further review, it looked like Felipe’s left leg may have clipped the toe of Menez as he was moving across him, but the angle I saw was very hard to see. Regardless, it was now 10 vs. 10 football.
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In the 79th, Menez was targeted for a pass in the box, but two Parma defenders tried to pass it back to Marte. The pass was well short and far too slow as Menez tracked it down, squeezed it to the left of Marte, ran in between Marte and the post, found his own pass in the center of the inner box, and hit a back heel just past Marte into the net. Whether it was a back heel or it went off the inside of heel, it was still a fantastic goal.
Parma’s 4th goal was very bizarre. Mattia Di Sciglio was forced backwards from midfield to his defending third from a Parma attacker and tried to kick it back to Lopez. The ball somehow found its way past Lopez and Mattia was credited for the own goal. From the highlights, it is hard to tell if Lopez was shading far to the right and Di Sciglio missed Lopez badly or if Lopez horribly misplayed the ball. Either way, that would be how the game ended.
Clearly, this one was a wild one.
Milan has a gigantic game coming up this Saturday. They will rekindle their rivalry with Juventus and play the defending champions at the San Siro.