January 18, (THEWILL) – AC Milan missed out on a chance to go top of Serie A after being defeated 2-1 by Spezia in dramatic circumstances at the Stadio San Siro, with the visitors netting a 96th-minute winner.
Milan is presently two points behind Inter, but with a win, the Rossoneri might have leapfrogged their city rivals and climbed to the top of Serie A. Napoli, on the other hand, has closed the gap on Milan to five points after defeating Bologna earlier in the day, as THEWILL reported.
Aquilotti’s Emmanuel Gyasi was the hero when they broke late and he maintained his cool to slide the ball past Mike Maignan in stoppage time, to earn Spezia their first ever victory at the San Siro.
On the stroke of halftime, Rafael Leao gave Milan the lead with a wonderful lob from the edge of the area. The goal came just minutes after Theo Hernandez had missed the mark with an incomprehensible penalty kick.
Kevin Agudelo was not about to let Spezia surrender to Milan’s title challenge, as he deftly converted a low cross from the left soon after the hour mark to level the game at 1-1.
The midfielder was sent off against Verona in his last Serie A match, but he made amends on Monday.
Milan poured on the pressure and battered the Spezia goal, and in stoppage time, they believed they should have had a winner of their own.
Junior Messias stroked the ball into the top corner but the referee spotted a foul on the edge of the box and blew for a freekick. The freekick was thundered goalward by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but it was palmed over the bar by the Spezia goalkeeper.
It is a critical win for Spezia, who are still fighting to stay in the Italian top flight, while Milan lose ground in the Scudetto battle.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
