It is a perfect crispy cloudy autumn afternoon here in Milan, the playground seems to be in good conditions. San Siro is quite far from being sold out, even if it is not as empty as it you should expect (more than 30.000 viewers being attending the match), the die hard supporters have left some giant banners n the "Curva", asking for the dismissal of the general manager, Adriano Galliani, and criticizing the coach, Sinisa Mihajlović.Not a good start for AC Milan, which is still struggling to impose its personality (if there is any).
Moreover, the match eve was troubled a well, a defeat would bea disaster
As the minutes go on, however, the balance slowly shifts in favor of the “rossoneri”, even if there is no real danger for Sassuolo until the 31st minute, when a fine passage of Cerci puts Bacca alone in front of Consigli, who can do nothing but to stop him with a foul.
Penalty is given, and the goalkeeper got a (probably exaggerated) red card. Bacca does not miss the shot, and the inertia of the match is now on the Milan side.
Sassuolo reacts, but brings no danger to Donnarumma, while Cerci seems to be in the right mood (even if he is constantly booed by the Milan fans).Nothing else happens: the first half is over, and Milan leads with no actual risk.
The second half starts with some more good chances: atthe 50th, Alex strikes in good position, but miss the shot by far. Then, as expected, it comes the classic Berardi moment: a free kick almost perfectly executed, and Donnarumma (whose positioning was probably wrong) is beaten for his very first time in Serie A.
Now the situation looks bleak for the home team: the numerical superiority is less effective when you have to attack,
Luiz Adrian is in, Poli is out: a forward for a midfielder, a clear message from Mihajlovic to the team. The move seems immediately to be working, and Bacca has a good chance to score. Little else happens, apart a header of Alex that misses the goal by far.
Then, in the 70th, Kucka is replaced by Bertolacci. The newcomer’s impact on the match is immediate: just few minutes and he and Luiz Adriano are stopped by the defenders just seconds before they strike.
There is a chance for Antonelli, but he awfully misses on an assist from Luiz Adriano. Now Bacca and Bertolacci making the difference, however scoring problems are still there.
Milan presses on, true enough, but with no avail, while Sassuolo seems to be content with the tie. Who can blame them for this?
In the 82nd, minute, Bertolacci tries from the long range, no luck for him, but now, at least, Milan is in charge of the operations and is taking some advantage from the numerical superiority.
The right chance comes four minutes later: Luiz Adriano scores with a header on a corner. Now, Milan must administer the time left. Cerci is replaced, and finally gets some applause:with just 7 minutes to play and one player lead, the fate of the match is sealed, you may think. It should be so, right enough, but it is not, since this Milan is still suffering from a serious case of inferiority complex.
So, it is another ten minutes (there is a three-minutes extra time) before finally consider the match archived.
At the end of the day, there are some good reason to smile (Bacca keeps on scoring, Bonaventura is getting the confidence to try something different than a long range passage when it comes to open the opponent’s defense, Cerci shows some hints of personality while dealing with the hostility of the supporters), but it is also clear that there still are some worrying problems to be solved, the lack of self confidence on top of everything else.
In the meantime, Serie A has another leader, AS Roma , AC MIlan is 7 (!) points behind. It could beworse...