Perhaps for a neutral fan, the first quarter-final match between Sassuolo and AC Milan was quite an interesting game because it had everything in its 90 minutes with both teams played entertaining football on each half of the game. But, for a Milan fan, this draw has the bittersweet flavor of a missed opportunity.
Coach Ganz promoted a small turnover in the usual starting eleven, with Simic, Conc and Rizza taking the places of Jane, Tucceri-Cimini and Grimshaw. The rossonere suddenly took the game over and with Veró becoming more and more in charge of the attacking actions, Milan created much more scoring opportunities than Sassuolo, but again, the lack of precision finishing, which has been a real issue since the start of the season of the season, took its toll. Only in the 44th minute, after Dowie received a long pass, put the ball on the ground and passed it to Veró, the Spanish star gave Giacinti a through ball and the number 9 found the back of the net with a driven and powerful shot in the first touch.
In the second half, although, the rossonere took a turn and switched inexplicably to a very defensive tatctic, dropping the lines too deep and giving Sassuolo the chance to have a much more offensive behave, pushing our wingers back and making the 352 from Milan looking much more a five-woman defense for the most of the rest of the game. Players like Bugeja, Cambiaghi e Tomaselli took advantage that Bergamaschi and Fusetti got tired and increased the pressure on Milan’s defense, especially after Grimshaw, who replaced Dowie, somehow squandered an open goal opportunity. Unfortunately for the rossonere, Philtjens scored the injury-time equalizer for the neroverde that settled it.
The second leg will take place on February, 13 at 2:30 pm CET in the Vismara and to Milan, a goalless draw would be enough to advance to the semifinals.
Photo credit: acmilan.com
