Friday night lights at the Stadio San Siro did not go according to plan for the Rossoneri as Milan drew 1-1 against Udiense, causing Stefano Pioli’s men to settle for a draw for the second game in a row.
The fixture started off brilliantly for Il Diavolo as Rafael Leao scored a spectacular goal as he brought down Sandro Tonali’s pass brilliantly and tucked the ball into the far-low-corner to hand Milan the breakthrough.
However, Pioli’s side was unable to hang onto their slight advantage as Destiny Udogie found the back of the net following Roberto Pereyra’s audacious aerobatic cross.
Despite the goal being controversial as it seemed the ball has bounced off of Udogie’s hand before going into the net, the official handed Udinese the goal, allowing Le Zebrette to obtain a fundamental point away from home.
Following Milan’s disappointing result, Pioli spoke to DAZN and let out his frustration regarding the officiating of the fixture:
“The Udinese player scores with his hand. It’s frankly unlikely the VAR didn’t see it, so this is a serious error that proved decisive for the final result. It’s true we didn’t put in an exceptional performance, but the goal should’ve been disallowed. We can only try to do better with what we can control, but when you say my players looked irritable and tense, that’s because they saw situations that were not good.
“It was handball. VAR is there to avoid these errors, so this is not acceptable and it’s not the first time we have been penalized. I am just saying it’s not the first time we have been penalized by such a clear incident, because the goal was scored with his hand.”
With Milan losing their grip within the race for their scudetto, Pioli hopes his side and find some form of consistency immediately as his men prepare to face their cross-city rivals Inter in the first leg of the Coppa Italia Semi Finals Tuesday evening.