Fiorentina 2-1 AC Milan: Rossoneri fall to defeat after missing two penalties | OneFootball

AC Milan’s winning run in Serie A was ended on Sunday night as they lost 2-1 against Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in a dramatic encounter.

Fiorentina missed the chance to take the lead from the penalty spot as Mike Maignan saved Moise Kean’s spot kick, but then they did get the opener through the Milan loanee Yacine Adli in the first half.

The Rossoneri missed two penalties before drawing level, with David De Gea saving from Theo Hernandez and Tammy Abraham, then Christian Pulisic’s volley made it 1-1. However, Albert Gudmundsson would strike after to win all three points for La Viola.

It is a damaging result for Milan before the international break, and to make matters worse Theo – who gave away a penalty and missed one – was sent off at full-time for protesting to the referee.

Paulo Fonseca chose to make just one change to the starting line-up from the team that lost to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League, with Alvaro Morata coming back in after fully recovering from injury to replace Ruben Loftus-Cheek who picked up a physical issue.

It took less than eight minutes for the referee to dish out the first yellow card and it went to Fiorentina right-back Dodo after Rafael Leao took the ball off him on the touchline and surged towards goal but was pulled to the ground.

The resulting free-kick was whipped into a very dangerous area by Christian Pulisic and Matteo Gabbia got his head on it around six yards out but couldn’t repeat his derby-winning goal as he sent the effort over the bar.

Fifteen minutes into the game Morata had a great chance to give Milan the lead when he got his head onto a teasing cross from Emerson Royal on the right, yet he glanced it just wide of the far post with the goalkeeper rooted. At the other end 60 seconds later, Colpani cut inside and lashed a shot over.

There was a controversial incident in the 20th minute as Dodo went down after he and Theo Hernandez went for a loose ball right on the edge of the box. The referee did not award a spot kick but the VAR chief called him over for another look and it was given, but Kean saw his attempt from 12 yards saved by Mike Maignan, which was probably justice after a very soft call.

Kean was again denied and this time by the offside flag when he got in the way of a volley from the edge of the box before burying a loose ball between Maignan’s legs. Moments later, Leao fired a fierce rising shot from around 20 yards out that fizzed over the bar after via the fingertip of De Gea.

Ten minutes before the break, the home side did take the lead and in rather typical fashion it was Adli who got the goal against his parent club. The Viola attack all started from a foul throw by Milan, and ended when the on-loan midfielder spun Pulisic and curled a low effort from the left corner of the box in off the far post to make it 1-0.

Milan had a golden chance to get themselves level right at the end of the first half when they were given a penalty of their own. A lovely passing move down the right side saw Pulisic put Tijjani Reijnders through on goal as he was falling down, and Ranieri brought the Dutchman down. Theo Hernandez took the responsibility on his birthday, yet De Gea tipped it around the post.

Kean had the ball in the back of the net in the opening minutes of the second half having run in behind with acres of space available, yet the reason he was all alone is because he had strayed offside.

In the 54th minute Milan were given another big opportunity to get back on level terms as Matteo Gabbia went down inside the box having been kicked by Kean. Replays struggled to find enough to overturn it, yet De Gea would be the thorn in the Rossoneri’s side again as he produced an excellent stop to deny Tammy Abraham’s penalty.

Just before the hour mark, Milan finally did draw level and it was thanks to a bit of genius from Pulisic. A cross all the way to the far side of the box found the run of the American who somehow managed to redirect it inside the far post with an outstanding volley.

The game opened up from there and the two sides began trading chances. Kean shot narrowly over after a cross into the box, and at the other end Ranieri made a fantastic last-ditch challenge to deny Pulisic a second goal after a fantastic run from Leao.

The first change came from Fonseca with 18 minutes as Noah Okafor replaced Leao, and moments after that the home side retook the lead. It didn’t require anything particularly fancy either: a long ball was totally missed by Fikayo Tomori and fell to Gudmundsson who lashed a low attempt past Maignan’s dive.

A second change was made inside the final 10 minutes with Pulisic making way for Samuel Chukwueze. The Nigerian winger almost made an instant impact after cutting in onto his left foot and hitting one, though De Gea reacted well after a slight deflection to tip it away.

A big chance fell to Abraham in added time after great work by Okafor on the left, yet the striker couldn’t sort his feet out in time to do anything other than stab a weak effort towards De Gea from deep inside the box.

The final big chance fell to Kean who was inches away from adding some gloss to the scoreline with a thumping attempt that hit the underside of the bar and bounced to safety.