Juventus recorded an important success with 3-1 in their visit to Milano in the derby of the intermediate 16th round of Serie A. Goals for The Bianconeri were scored by Federico Chiesa (18, 62) and Weston McKennie (76), while Davide Calabria (41) was accurate for the Rossoneri. The Italian champion ended the series of 27 consecutive championship matches without a loss for AC Milan.
Stefano Pioli’s plans changed only a few hours before the match. The two expected starters Rade Krunic and Ante Rebic turned out to be infected with a coronavirus. So Calabria played tonight as a supporting midfielder, and Jens Petter Hauge acted on the left wing. Theo Hernandez served his suspension and returned as a left-back. Diogo Dalot was positioned to the right of the defense, and Samu Castillejo operated in front of him. At the top of the attack was Rafael Leao.
Juan Cuadrado and Alex Sandro tested positive for coronavirus. That’s why Gianluca Frabotta started in the first eleven. There was only one more change in the team. Adrien Rabiot’s sanction expired and he replaced McKennie. The two strikers were Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala.
In the second minute Dybala shot, but the ball bounced in Simon Kjaer and was caught by Gianluigi Donnarumma. Leao immediately responded with an inaccurate shot. In the seventh minute, Castillejo made a dangerous shot, which, was saved by Wojciech Szczesny. Shortly afterwards, a shot from Frabotta flew over the bar. In the 16th minute, a shot by Chiesa shook the side post. Just two minutes later, the Italian national passed the ball to Dybala, who returned it to him with a heel so that the winger could send it into the opponent’s net for 1-0.
In the 22nd minute, Leao’s shot went very close to the visitors’ door. Chiesa fired again, but this time Donnarumma managed to intervene. In the 27th minute, a mistake by the visiting defense allowed Leao to make a powerful shot, which was deflected by Szczesny. In the 33rd minute Calabria tried a long shot, which flew over the bar. Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s three failed attempts to equalize followed. However, Calabria did this in the 41st minute with a precise shot under the crossbar for 1-1.
The second half began with a kick by Dalot, which Szczesny saved. In the 56th minute Ramsey got the ball in a good position, but sent it out. In the 62nd minute, Chiesa directed the ball into the far bottom corner of the goal for his second goal of the match.
In the 71st minute Ronaldo crossed to McKennie in the penalty area, but Donaruma deflected the American’s shot. In the 77th minute Dejan Kulusevski, who came in as a substitute, made a run on the right flank and passed the ball to McKennie, for whom the only thing left was to score. By the end of the match, Çalhanoğlu had tried to undo Juventus lead, but failed to do so, ending the Rossoneri’s 17-match streak with at least two goals scored.
Despite the loss, Milan continues to be the leader in the standings with 37 points, while Juventus has 30 points and is in fourth place.
