In the 20th anniversary of that epic 2003 Champions League Final that put Milan and Juventus against each other, Juve’s dim hopes of UCL football next season were wiped out by Olivier Giroud as the Frenchman’s only goal of the night at the Allianz Stadium helped Milan edge past the Bianconeri in the second-to-last Serie A round.
Milan thus secured their qualification to the top European competition for the third year in a row. They also managed to beat Juventus in both league games of the season for only the third time in history, following their doubles in 1991 and 2010. After a tormented Serie A campaign, Stefano Pioli and his band can breathe a sigh of relief as they achieved the minimum expected outcome.
As for Juventus, little can be added to describe their disgraceful season. The Old Lady needed to grab all three points on offer to continue hoping for a ticket to the UCL grand ball at least on paper. Perhaps Massimiliano Allegri’s side would have at least deserved to snatch a tie, but the Bianconeri lost their focus when Giroud unexpectedly broke the deadlock.
Milan had a good start and their ball possession-based play initially seemed to cause some troubles to Allegri’s defense. However, Juventus quickly reorganized themselves and were the better team for most of the first half.
The first shot of the night came from Juan Cuadrado, but his long-range conclusion was defused by Mike Maignan. Moise Kean was the Bianconeri’s ace in the hole as both Fikayo Tomori and Malick Thiaw struggled to restrain him. On 23 minutes, the home-grown striker wreaked havoc into Milan’s area with a spectacular progression and served Angel Di Maria, triggering the Argentine’s shot that sailed above the crossbar.
Two minutes later, it was Chiesa to come close to breaking the deadlock with a conclusion from a narrow angle that also missed the target.
Milan’s defense appeared in a confused state while Juventus put them in trouble every time that they launched a counterattack. However, as it often happens in calcio, the fate of the match suddenly changed due to a single episode.
On 40 minutes, Davide Calabria picked Giroud in the middle of the box with a long-range cross from the right flank. The Frenchman brilliantly headed the ball home into the bottom right corner, but all three Juventus center backs were to blame in the occasion.
The goal had the effect of breaking Juve’s momentum as the Bianconeri never came close to cause Maignan any trouble in the second half. Max Allegri reshuffled his offensive cards in the middle of the game but Arkadiusz Milik, who replaced Di Maria early after the restart, had a lackadaisical display. Samuel Iling-Junior did only slightly better than him when he replaced Kean, whose performance started to decline minute after minute.
On the other hand, Milan had a couple of chances to increase their tally. Rafael Leao should have added one more goal to his name, but Federico Gatti did much better than in the occasion of the Rossoneri’s only goal, saving the day with a perfectly timed slide tackle.
On 70 minutes, it was Wojciech Szczesny’s time to keep his side afloat as the Polish custodian saved with his feet from Alexis Saelemaekers’ close-range shot.
Only during injury time did Juventus finally manage to record a new shot on target but Danilo’s tap-in attempt from point-blank range unluckily crashed into Pierre Kalulu’s leg. No, this was just not the Bianconeri’s season and Allegri and co’s only relief is that it’s going to end soon.