Having rescued a point on the opening day against Torino at San Siro, Milan went to Parma’s Stadio Ennio Tardini in search of their first win this season. They returned home with the exact opposite, going down 2-1, piling pressure on Paolo Fonseca in the process as Cancellieri conquers the Rossoneri.
Dennis Man is the Man
Two minutes were hardly on the clock before the hosts took the lead through Dennis Man. The first attack of the game started down the left hand side and quickly turned dangerous.
Emanuele Valeri played a pass right across the face of goal and Milan right back Theo Hernandez was caught ball watching as Man fired home from close range. This was some welcome back to the big time for the Tardini’s crowd.
Hernandez and Milan’s defence were exposed time and time again by a Parma side content with catching their opponents on the break. The home side were up for this one on the pitch and in the stands and were only encouraged by the wide open spaces afforded to them.
Milan did eventually kick into gear and had a spell of cautious possesion around the half hour mark, Yunus Musah’s shot was deflected over and Japanese ‘keeper Zion Suzuki sprang to tip Strahinja Pavlovic’s header over his bar. It seemed the Rossoneri were slowly turning up the heat after a Tijani Reijnders’ flash across goal capped this flurry of chances.
Parma had no intention of being reined in so finished the half much stronger. With a minute to go to the break a scrappy midfield ball fell to Man.
The Romanian produced a beautiful flick to bring the ball with him and was away. He entered the box, ready to shoot but suddenly Pavlovic appeared and put in a schivolrous last ditch tackle. The ball popped out to Valentin Mihăilă who smacked his shot against the post and out.
The Crociati weren’t done there and should’ve been out of sight by half-time. Three minutes into injury time, Milan deserted their own half once again and presented Mihaila with plenty of time and space, too much in fact. The 24 year old panicked, was forced wide and when he eventually got his shot off Mike Maignan denied him.
Second half
Milan couldn’t have been much worse than they were in the first 45 so they did pick it up slightly to open the second period. Reijnders smashed an effort off the bar and Christian Pulisic’s Volley was pushed away by Suzuki. Pressure was mounting on Parma but they maintained a threat on the break.
Davide Calabria added to his repotiore of gaffes as warning shots were fired at the Rossoneri. The ball was in Milan’s net again but striker Ange Bonny was clearly offside. Dennis Man then grazed the post and was untouchable at times against a pretty helpless back four. It was obvious there was still a goal in them.
Pulisic Pulls Milan Level
Milan’s quality shone through eventually to haul them level on 66 minutes. Rafael Leão played a quickfire one – two with Hernandez and got to the byline. He found the waiting Pulisic who slotted home to bring his side back into the game, unlikely as it seemed.
An open spell of play followed and a raft of substitutions, one went on to play a pivotal role in deciding this encounter. Pontus Almqvist replaced the mercurial Man with 15 minutes left and immediately made a difference. A lack of interest in defending from Milan’s defenders was a theme throughout and it was exploited once again.
Cancellieri Conquers Rossoneri
Leão went from hero to zero as he played a hospital ball straight to the opposition. Almqvist was given the freedom of the left wing and shifted into top gear. He hit a low hard cross to fellow sub Matteo Cancellieri who shot across the keeper and sent the stadium announcer into a frenzy.
Non-existant defending from both Fikayo Tomori and Pavlovic contributing in no small part.
Once MATTEO CANCELLIERI! had been boomed out over the tannoy for the last time Parma settled in to defend their 2-1 lead. Not much was asked of them and they held onto a famous lead courtesy of some scintillating counter-attacks and an unreliable Milan defence.
Cancellieri conquers the Rossoneri and heaps pressure on Fonseca.
It’s not even September yet.