Junior Messias rescued a late point for Milan as his 93-minute free kick set the score at 1-1 at the San Siro on Wednesday night after David Okereke had opened the scoring for Cremonese.
Stefano Pioli’s turnover proved to be an ill choice once again as the Rossoneri dropped some more precious points in their quest for a Champions League spot. The Milan gaffer rotated seven of his starters, including Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao, ahead of next Saturday’s key battle with Lazio and the subsequent UCL Semi Final with Inter.
However, the backups once again failed to step up to the task. Charles De Ketelaere, in particular, wasted another glorious chance to redeem his disappointing season as he failed to take advantage of a defensive mishap on 25 minutes. The young Belgian was set to go one-on-one with Goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi but allowed the Azzurrini goalie to win the duel.
Before that, Alexis Saelemaekers deluded the Rossoneri as he found the net from a brilliant Pierre Kalulu long ball but his joy was short-lasting. The VAR caught him offside when he received the ball from the Frenchman.
On 60 minutes, Brahim Diaz was to blame as he failed to head home a mouthwatering cross by Saelemakers. And so, as it often happens in calcio, the most wasteful side got punished.
The unexpected happened on 77 minutes. Davide Ballardini’s Grigiorossi had mostly minded about defending themselves until then, but took a surprising lead when Okereke was picked with a long ball beyond Milan’s defensive line and bested Kalulu and Malick Thiaw before beating Mike Maignan with a clinical conclusion.
Okereke’s opener gave Cremonese some new hopes in their battle to avoid relegation. As things stood, they were trailing third-to-last Verona and Spezia by four points with five games to go.
However, Milan snatched an equalizer well into stoppage time as substitute Messias converted a late free kick, finding the right spot among many defenders’ legs and past goalkeeper Carnesecchi.
Cremonese then lost one man when Charles Pickel saw red for hitting Sandro Tonali and Carnesecchi had to keep his side afloat with a decisive save from a Rade Krunic last-gasp shot.
One point looks like a meager outcome for the Rossoneri against the Serie A second-to-last Grigiorossi. Milan were passed in the table by their cross-town rivals Inter, who easily dismantled Verona and now have a two-point lead over their cousins.
But tonight’s draw did little good to Cremonese too, who were just a couple minutes away from collecting an illustrious scalp and reducing their gap from safety to four points.
Ballardini and his boys will still need to fight hard to retain their top-flight status and so will Stefano Pioli’s man have to do to earn a ticket for next season’s Champions League.