A bad and unexpected defeat for AC Milan away against AC Monza

AC Monza, a team coached by one of the most promising emerging coaches, Raffaele Palladino, had not yet achieved any victory against any of the big teams in Serie A, whereas in the previous season they had achieved historic victories against Juventus and FC Internazionale.

As for the Rossoneri, coach Stefano Pioli decided to focus on offensive turnover by resting the entire starting trident. So Noah Okafor, Samuel Chukwueze and Luka Jovic started from the first minute.

The start of the match was characterized by a stalemate phase between the teams ,who tried not to make mistakes while revealing the approach that will distinguish them in the long run. AC Milan preferred a long possession of the ball while waiting to find an opening in the opponent's penalty area while Monza waited by closing themselves in their defensive zone, not allowing space and then starting again on the counterattack once they had recovered the ball .

The first clear opportunity was a shot from outside by Theo Hernandez, which grazed the opponent's goal post. The whole action was favored by a beautiful individual play by Chukwueze who became a positive protagonist only in this action as it was yet another flop performance for the Nigerian attacker.

After which the match continued without changes in pace.

After the first half hour of play, the first clear opportunity also arrived for the home team with a header by striker Milan Djuric who hit the woodwork.

A few minutes before the end of the first half, a harsh tackle occurred between goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio and his teammate Andrea Carboni on a corner kick in favor Milan. Following the tackle, the goalkeeper was not in a condition to continue and was replaced by Alessandro Sorrentino.

After many minutes of stopped play due to the injury, the game resumed in the 44th minute and immediately the home team was able to surprise the opponents with a quick action, where defender Malick Thiaw committed a clear foul allowing Monza get a penalty.

The captain, Matteo Pessina, appeared on the spot and beat goalkeeper Mike Maignan, thus giving Monza the advantage.

The Rossoneri tried to get an equaliser, first with an opportunity from Luka Jovic, whose shot was blocked by defender Pablo Mari and then with a long-range free throw from Alessandro Florenzi which was blocked by the goalkeeper.

However, despite the guests' effort, it was Monza who found their second goal with a nice move on the right side by Andrea Colpani who dribbled past Thiaw and passed the ball to Dany Mota who, from a favorable position, curled a shot for the 2-0.

In the second half, Pioli decided to revolutionize the team. He removed Okafor and Chukwueze, authors of an inconsistent first half, and replaced them with Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic.

A few minutes later, an episode occurred which undoubtedly worsened the fate of the Rossoneri. Despite a previous warning from the referee, Jovic reacted to a push from opposing defender Armando Izzo and the referee punished him with a yellow card. However, the referee was called to review the VAR and surprisingly decided to punish the episode more severely, thus sending off the Milan striker.

The numerical superiority certainly favored the play of Monza who were able to count on large areas of the field in their counterattacks, coming close to the third goal several times while the Rossoneri chose to continue with their aggressive style of play. To further solidify the point, a midfielder was removed and Olivier Giroud brought in.

In the 64th minute, it was the French striker who scored the Rossoneri's first goal by taking advantage of a ball headed forward by Pulisic.

In the 66th minute, coach Raffaele Palladino brought on midfielder Warren Bondo and striker Lorenzo Colombo, whose parent club is Milan. Both proved crucial to Monza's victory.

At this moment of the match, what was shown by Pulisic was truly brilliant as he targeted his opponent several times and created the conditions for an equalizer.

In the 88th minute, it was the American who found the equalizer with an individual play starting from the right side of the field. He concentrated and released a powerful and precise shot which the goalkeeper was unable to do anything.

Incredible that Milan restored the balance after going two goals behind and suffering numerical inferiority for the entire second half.

However, not at all satisfied with the draw, the Rossoneri tried to score the winning goal without taking into account the wasted physical and mental energy.

Following a lost ball in an offensive transition, the Monza players restarted quickly and the ball reached Daniel Maldini (also, like Lorenzo Colombo, owned by Milan and on loan to Monza) who passed the ball to Warren Bondo who took a long-range shot, which went past Maignan, thus giving the home team the lead again.

The Rossoneri attempted one final siege by bringing all their men into the opponent's frontline but this only allowed the opponents' last counterattack.

This time it was Lorenzo Colombo, well served by Matteo Pessina, who found himself in the penalty area and beat Maignan, surprising him on his post and definitively put the match to rest.