AC Milan snatch the point of the draw against Lecce but let Naples slip away in the lead

Continuation of the 18th day of Serie A this Saturday with the trip of AC Milan, second in the Italian championship, to Lecce. Resident of the second part of the table, the club based in Puglia should not represent an insurmountable obstacle for the players of Stefano Pioli. Especially since with the resounding victory of the Partenopei against Juventus this Friday (5-1), the Rossoneri had to win to stay in contact with the leaders of Serie A. Abused for most of the first period , Olivier Giroud’s teammates suffered against locals who were motivated and efficient in attack. While Théo Hernandez opened the scoring in spite of himself from the start of the match with an own goal (3rd, 1-0), Lecce drove the point home from a corner before the half-hour mark through Federico Baschirotto (23rd, 2-0). Federico Di Francesco, twice (5th and 14th), and Valentin Gendrey (26th) missed the opportunity to increase the score while Wladimiro Falcone made two crucial saves in front of Olivier Giroud (10th and 43rd).

Returning from the locker room, Rafael Leão showed up for the first time but Baschirotto deflected the ball for a corner (49th) then finally found the net by cheating a Falcone, far from imperial for the occasion (58th, 2-1) . At the end of the game, Giroud was on the receiving end of a cross and headed back towards Davide Calabria who arrived launched to score with a header from close range (70th, 2-2). Despite the intervention of VAR, the goal was awarded to AC Milan a few minutes later. Launched in depth by Ismaël Bennacer, Junior Messias thought to give the advantage to the Milanese by opening his foot but his shot hit the post (79th) and the Brazilian was finally signaled in an offside position. The score did not move until the final whistle and the two teams therefore separated on this draw which does not help anyone. In the standings, AC Milan let Naples slip away at the top of Serie A while Lecce remains stuck in the soft yoke of the Italian championship.

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Serie A: Naples humiliates Juventus and takes the lead