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Amad Diallo appeared to have given Manchester United a small victory with his sweet header only for Simon Kjær’s goal in injury time to salvage a draw for Milan, when Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side fell back into the corner .
Milan can be considered worthy of the vital away goal with which they travel back to Italy, as Stefan Pioli’s side was always positive and, for large stripes, the dominant force. It means that when Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s men return to San Siro next Thursday, they will be the favorites to advance to the quarter-finals.
This was the eleventh meeting between clubs that have 10 European Cups and a Europa League between them, United won this competition in 2017. Solskjær organized his team in the regular 4-2-3-1, the XI showed four changes with compared to 2 on Sunday. -0 win at Manchester City. Victor Lindelöf, Luke Shaw, Fred and Marcus Rashford left; Eric Bailly, Alex Telles, Nemanja Matic, and Mason Greenwood entered.
Pioli’s men came in as the second best team in Serie A, six points behind their rivals Internazionale and having last been champions a decade ago. They were left without the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic, once from this parish, but his replacement Rafael Leão had the ball on Dean Henderson from the start. The forward was correctly flagged offside, but not before he had passed United’s defense too easily to send a warning to Solskjaer’s side.
United soon gave Milan their thing. Telles prowled down the left and hit a ball that Anthony Martial hit with his chest and then struck cleanly on the volley, causing Gianluigi Donnarumma to flip.
Milan were here to force the problem, their pressure inside United’s field posed a problem. What Solskjær’s team did not have to do was disconnect, as they did when Davide Calabria’s throw-in was allowed to reach Franck Kessié. His 20-yard goal didn’t give Henderson a chance, but after a delay, the VAR ruled that the midfielder had driven to control.
It was a second disappointment, but United fell asleep when Rade Krunic launched a long free kick that no red jersey wanted to claim from the air. Milan were caught offside, but what United needed was the smell of salts to wake up.
There was no pattern to his game. Instead, the visitors hit the ball in a way that had the feeling of being schooled for United. When Bruno Fernandes was finally able to look forward with possession, his planned pass was too short and the attack failed.
Instead, Calabria was able to push from the right back into the United area to wreak havoc, and the home side again escaped in what was becoming a Harry Houdini medium. His next shave was when Martial jumped off a challenge near the Milan area. Suddenly, Brahim Díaz broke fast, Alexis Saelemaekers took over and cut inside on the right. Henderson’s fingers were hot from his fierce effort.
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Here, Harry Maguire yelled at his teammates to stop giving away the ball. The captain could have also implored his team to back out, fast. But they began to cheer up and soon approached an unlikely starter. Telles turned a corner from the right that Fernandes hit. He looped the ball over Donnarumma, who landed a weak touch, before Maguire hit the post from inches. The ball crossed the goal but somehow was left out and the scoreboard was scoreless.
It was still like that at half-time, and the Italians perhaps regretted not being ahead, given that United would surely be better off after a Solskjær flea on their collective ear. Now the Norwegian has replaced Martial, who may have been injured, with Diallo. The teenager took his place to the right of United’s attack, with Greenwood moving to the center forward.
A Fernandes ball that dropped Greenwood down the left suggested United would, in fact, improve. Then the Portuguese got a free kick in a central area. He sent it to Nemanja Matic, who returned the ball to him, and Fernandes looked up, saw Diallo’s clever inside run to the right and threw it deftly at him. The Young Beyond Donnarumma movie oozes class.
It was a good way to open their United account, and Milan were stunned. His response was an instant bombardment from Henderson’s goal, in which Kessie had a snapshot repelled by the keeper. Pioli’s team felt a penalty should have been theirs when Aaron Wan-Bissaka reached over Diaz to clear the head and the latter fell.
As a show, the game had increased its levels of entertainment. Then, Calabria went over a center to which Krunic threw his head, connecting with the ball but not being able to contain it.
Then United offered a rare backlash when Greenwood teamed up with Diallo, before finding Dan James in space. The winger wasn’t under pressure, but his control wavered.
The final minutes began with a flurry that made the composite game difficult. But in the 92nd minute, Kjaer’s intervention stunned United, who will have a lot of work to do next week. They can only blame themselves as too many goals are allowed in dead ball situations.
