Udinese 0, Milan 1: To the Death

This game was remarkably unremarkable for about 94 minutes. And then it got interesting. After so much back and forth and so many shots wide or saved, a serious of unfortunate events for Udinese led to one beautiful shot hitting the back of the net. With VAR checks almost doubling the six minutes of stoppage time, this game left it all to the death.

Hell yeah.

The first half was filled with shots, more from Udinese than Milan. All in all, Udinese had 13 shots, three on target, even if it seemed like more. Milan were more clinical, with 15 shots total, seven on target. The bigger drama was when Higuain took a knock to his back, then had to be subbed off in the 35th. Zapata also got some Lasagna to the face in the 31st, when Udinese’s Italian international dragged his foot after a Zapata tackle.

The second half was filled with cards. After only one yellow card in the first half, there were five yellows and one red in the second half. It got more interesting with some nice shots, and some nice saves, too, like Gigio’s point blank save on Lasagna in the 85th. The introduction of Borini in the 73rd did not deter from Milan’s performance excessively, other than the aberration that is his hair color.

Scariest moments of the match

After six minutes of stoppage time were added, Nuytinck fouled the speedy Castillejo in frustration in the 94th and saw a straight red. After the standard protests and VAR review, the match was restarted sans Nuytinck, who had only subbed on ten minutes prior. And that’s when Romagnoli decided he wasn’t going to let another three points slip through Milan’s fingers. With an assist from Suso, he sent the ball screaming into the back of the net, 1-0 Milan.

There was some confusion, protests, and a VAR review, as you do in Serie A. The confusion was whether or not Cutrone was offside when the ball was initially sent in on the play, and the VAR review showed that he was not. During that time, Di Bello was able to give out one more card, a yellow to Romagnoli for excessive celebrating. I know we would miss Romagnoli dearly if and when he accumulates too many yellow cards, but I forgave him for this one before he even received it.

So many feels

The match was not the most impressive display from either side. And after a tough match in which Udinese would have clearly been happy with the draw, it must have really hurt to lose like that. But for Milan, to take all three points in the dying minutes, and maintain our fourth place berth on the table was immense. Particularly in light of so many key injuries. But the biggest accomplishment was the clean sheet, our first in Serie A this season. All of these things have got to do so much for Milan’s confidence going forward, even if they left it all to the death.

This post inspired by the music of Oingo Boingo’s “Dead Man’s Party”

Our next match is

Europa League

Real Betis vs. AC Milan

Thursday, November 8 • 21:00 CET (3pm EST)