Juventus had won their first two games of the season, but it would be entirely fair to say that they had come close to leaving those matches ruing missed opportunities. Each of them could’ve been put away long time before they were, and indeed one of the major talking points headed into Sunday’s matchup against AC Milan was the fact that the Bianconeri had gotten the results without reaching the level of performance they desired. Milan were in the same boat, winning two straight under new manager
Ruben Amorim but not convincing in either. It felt as though the team that managed to perform better would be the likelier to come out of the Allianz on top.
It was ultimately Juve that had the better of a game that was equal parts chaotic and sloppy. But once again they failed to take advantage of their performances. They failed to make the most of the chances they made over the game’s first 70 minutes before Milan scored on — stop me if you’ve heard this one before — their first shot on target of the match. It took until the second minute of stoppage time for Juve to finally even things out, when Federico Gatti powered home a Teun Koopmeiners cross from six yards to earn the Old Lady a 1-1 draw.
The problems for Juventus were the same as we’ve talked about all season so far. The finishing wasn’t nearly good enough, the passing was disjointed and often inaccurate, and overall creativity seemed to be lacking. But in spite of all of that, they can honestly say that they were the better of the two sides and deserved victory — even more so when you consider the fact that Milan’s goal really should’ve been disallowed for a foul in the buildup that was never flagged by VAR. Considering they were missing seven players due to injury, several of whom were extremely important, it’s far too early to start abandoning hope of a successful year—provided they make the improvements that their play so far suggest is possible.
Luciano Spalletti was missing Kenan Yildiz, Weston McKennie, Khéphren Thuram, Andrea Cambiaso, Jeff Ekhator, Juan Cabal, and Pape Matar Sarr. His 4-2-3-1 formation gave several players their first starts of the year. Guglielmo Vicario started behind the back four of Pierre Kalulu, Bremer, Jhon Lucumí, and Zeki Celik. Manuel Locatelli and Douglas Luiz started in the middle of the park, while Francisco Conceição joined Nico González and Kerim Alajbegovic behind Randal Kolo Muani in attack.
Amorim missed Matteo Gabbia due to an ankle injury, but returned a few players to the starting lineup who had been eased back into things after long World Cup runs. Mike Maignan started in goal, ahead of a 3-4-2-1 setup that was a slight tweak to Amorim’s usual 3-4-3. Former Juve prospect Koni De Winter joined Strahinja Pavolovic and Mario Gila in defense. Big-money signing Diego Moreira got his first start of the season opposite Pervis Estupiñán at the wing-back spots, while Luka Modric and Yunis Musah manned the double pivot. Adrien Rabiot joined Alexis Saelemaekers in support of Gonçalo Ramos in the attack.
Before the game the Allianz ran a tribute to Milan legend Franco Baresi, who passed away over the summer. A class act in all aspects, he had achieved a level of admiration uncommon for opposing players over the course of his career, particularly after his actions on March 7, 1990. Milan that day were the first Italian side to play at the Heysel Stadium in Brussles since the Heysel Disaster, and despite being told by local authorities not to make any gesture of tribute, Baresi defied those orders and left 39 red roses in front of the site of the tragedy.
Amorim is, of course, famous for his high-intensity pressing system, and it was a minor surprise to see Spalletti answer that with a similar approach, forcing Amorim to overcome a dose of his own medicine in order to succeed. The result of these dueling approaches was a chaotic opening, with players often losing the ball, regaining it, then losing it again in the space of several seconds. The chaos told within minutes, when an errant header by Gila landed right at the feet of Alajbegovic, only for the Bosnian teen to fire high. Ten minutes later, González slipped Pavlovic with a beautiful dribble but fired his shot directly at Maignan. Rabiot responded by sending a pullback by Ramos into the second deck of seats.
Former Juventino De Winter was the key to the Milan defense, disrupting Kolo Muani anytime the ball came close, as well as clearing away a cross from Celik that otherwise would’ve resulted in a free header for the Frenchman at close range. It was a tough night for both strikers — neither had more than 10 touches by the 37th minute of the match.
Conceição started slowly but started to get into the game in the 24th minute when he cut inside Estupiñán and unleashed a shot for the far post that Maignan managed to parry away. The rebound rolled toward Locatelli, but redirecting it on goal was a tough ask made tougher by the defensive attention of Moreira. Fifteen minutes later, the compact winger got another chance, this time on a beautiful lob by Luiz, but he chose the wrong foot to use and Maignan made the save at the near post.
The Portuguese continued to create issues in the early stages of the second half. Ten minutes into the second period he gathered up the ball after a tackle by Locatelli and charged downfield. He had options but ultimately called his own number, slashing the ball low to the far post, only to whack the ball against he woodwork for the second time in two games.
Up to this point, Milan had only taken two shots all night, Rabiot’s in the 13th minute and a blocked effort in the fourth by Estupiñán. It was the 68th minute when the third (and final) shot came. The move started when Kolo Muani lost out to a rough challenge from De Winter, who didn’t come close to the ball and caught the striker’s ankle to boot. But referee Maurizio Mariani, who had let both sides get away with a lot of contact over the course of the game, let play go, and the substitute duo of Samuel Chukwueze and Alphadjo Cissè combined to put the latter in possession on the left wing. The 19-year-old had been given far too much room by Locatelli, and an arriving Kalulu didn’t close him down well enough either. His low shot nutmegged the right-back, but it wasn’t so well hit that Vicario was helpless. He still got down late and could only watch as Cissè‘s shot nestled into the net, scoring Milan’s first Serie A goal against Juve since May of 2023.
It wasn’t until the 75th minute that Spalletti went to his newest toy on the bench. Nick Woltemade was sent on to bolster the attack, although curiously came off for a midfielder (Luiz) as opposed to Kolo Muani, who was clearly not having his day. His introduction didn’t exactly signal a siege of Milan’s goal, but Juve were still very much the team that was creating the opportunities as time went on. Musah made an excellent defensive play to deprive Kolo Muani of another potential free header, then Woltemade barely missed the top corner after a Koopmeiners free kick crashed into the wall and created a scramble. Seconds later another loose ball pinged around the box, somehow evading the efforts of three Juventus players to turn it toward goal.
The home side continued to pour forward. Kolo Muani finally got that short-range header in the final minute of stoppage time, but De Winter blocked it behind with his own head. Jérémie Boga cut inside just as stoppage time began but put his shot right at Maignan, who barely prevented himself from spilling it into the six-yard box.
Woltemade was fouled by De Winter moments later, and Locatelli took the free kick short. Koopmeiners then lashed a cross in, and Gatti, who had been sent on as an auxiliary target in the box in the 89th minute, rose up between De Winter and Ruben Loftus-Cheek and pile-drove a header in off the underside of the crossbar. Like González and Koopmeiners the week before, Gatti had been the subject of a lot of exit rumors this summer, and like them he turned into an unlikely hero early on in the year.
The game’s final minutes were defined by an outbreak of extracurricular activity. First Cissè went down easily in the box (while offside) and quite blatantly tried to prevent Vicario and Gatti from restarting play, resulting in yellow cards for both goalscorers. There was more as the game’s final kick fell to earth and Woltemade took exception to something in the scrum beneath it.
The teams were ultimately separated without incident, heading back to their locker rooms with yet another draw between the two of them to ponder.
