Roma blanks, Milan recover
Jack Bonaventura’s cheeky free kick and some sensational Gianluigi Donnarumma saves gave Milan a slender victory over Pescara.
The Rossoneri had the chance to recapture third place and make up for the disappointing 3-0 defeat to Genoa midweek. M’Baye Niang recovered from flu symptoms to start, but Davide Calabria, Leonel Vangioni, Andrea Bertolacci, Luca Antonelli, Mati Fernandez and Riccardo Montolivo missed out.
It was a very bright start by the visitors at San Siro, as Gianluca Caprari and Alessandro Crescenzi put several dangerous crosses into the box.
Jack Bonaventura’s half-volley was smothered by Albano Bizzarri and Carlos Bacca came sliding on to a Suso cross, but couldn’t quite steer it past Bizzarri.
Another couple of Suso assists were prevented from reaching Bacca by slight deflections, as the Colombian was marked carefully.
Mattia De Sciglio was left unmarked to volley from eight yards, but Bizzarri performed a great reaction save on his finish and the follow-up from offside Niang.
It was very obvious by his movements that Niang was still suffering from the effects of the flu, but he still managed a huge leap for a glancing header that thumped the upright just before half-time. Bacca wanted a penalty for an Andrea Coda foul as he went to nod the rebound and it looked like a very strong shout.
After the restart, the game suddenly exploded into life. Jack Bonaventura was brought down on the edge of the box and he took the free kick himself, placing it underneath the wall as it jumped and into the near bottom corner, completely wrongfooting the goalkeeper.
Moments later Pescara thought they had equalised, but Caprari was flagged offside. No sooner had they finished protesting than Bacca had come sliding on to a Niang assist and hit the post from point-blank range.
Pescara turned on the siege with Ahmad Benali firing over after shaking off Gomez, then Ledjan Memushaj and Alberto Aquilani both went for the Francesco Zampano cross, clattering into each other. Aquilani came off worse and had to be replaced by ex-Milan youth product Bryan Cristante.
It was wide open in the second half, as Suso tested Bizzarri from a tight angle and Gianluigi Donnarumma flew for a sensational trailing hand save on Memushaj’s scorching strike as it was going into the top corner. On the resulting set piece, Donnarumma was again alert on Memushaj’s header.
Mario Pasalic, on loan from Chelsea, finally made his Milan debut and nodded a Suso cross over the bar.
Pescara had another goal ruled offside, as Rey Manaj was offside when Donnarumma parried a Memushaj effort into his path.
Bryan Cristante drilled just wide, but in seven minutes of stoppages the Delfini poured forward, Caprari’s wonderful lob fingertipped away by Donnarumma at full stretch.
Meanhwile, Roma’s run of four consecutive victories came to a halt at the Castellani thanks to the heroics of Lukasz Skorupski.
In the first couple of minutes Lukasz Skorupski, who is on loan from Roma, flew to fingertip an Edin Dzeko header out from under the crossbar. Moments later he was called into action quite spectacular again, one-handed to deny Mohamed Salah’s strike from 12 yards.
There was a curious moment when Giuseppe Bellusci brought down Dzeko on the edge of the area and the referee flashed a yellow followed by a red card, but quickly realised it was a case of mistaken identity and it was the defender’s first booking.
Stephan El Shaarawy saw a couple of efforts deflected off target, but Empoli also threatened just before half-time when Manuel Pasqual’s free kick swerved just past the upright.
Bruno Peres returned from injury for the second half and drilled just wide of the upright, while Massimo Maccarone’s finish was too central to trouble Wojciech Szczesny.
Yet Empoli were inches away from taking the lead on 81 minutes when Saponara somehow kept the ball in play to pull back for Maccarone in the six-yard box and the angled drive shaved a coat of paint off the base of the far post.
Roma threw everything at the Tuscans and in the final minutes Dzeko rose to meet a corner, but the header was cleared off the line by Pasqual.
In stoppages Skorupski completed his man of the match performance with another great save on El Shaarawy’s volley. On the resulting corner Salah went down under a possible tiny shirt-tug, but the flailing of the arms prompted the referee to book him for simulation.
Skorupski was decisive again on El Shaarawy after a Salah counter, as Empoli bolted the door shut.
Lega Pro C
Yesterday Siracusa-Andria ............................... 1-1 Catania-Paganese ............................ 2-1 Melfi-Virtus Francavilla ................... 0-1 Monopoli-Catanzaro ........................ 2-2 Taranto-Messina .............................. 1-1 Vibonese-Reggina 1914 ................... 1-0 Juve Stabia-Cosenza ........................ 2-0 Casertana-Fondi .............................. 1-1 Matera-Akragas ............................... 3-1
Yesterday Atalanta-Genoa ............................. 3-0 Kurtic 36’, 45+2’, Gomez 84’ AC Milan-Pescara ........................... 1-0 Bonaventura 49’ Crotone-Chievo .............................. 2-0 Trotta 45+3’ pen, Falcinelli 90+2’ Empoli-AS Roma ............................ 0-0 Lazio-Sassuolo ............................... 2-1 Lulic 50’ (L), Immobile 55’ (L), Defrel 57’ (S) Sampdoria-Inter ............................ 1-0 Quagliarella 44’
Standings
Juventus AS Roma AC Milan Lazio Napoli Atalanta Fiorentina Torino Genoa Chievo Inter Sampdoria Udinese Cagliari Bologna Sassuolo Pescara Empoli Palermo Crotone
Serie B 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 10 11 11 11 10 10 11 11 11 11 10 11 9 7 7 6 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 1 1 1 1 0 2 1 3 2 1 4 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 4 1 4 4 3 2 2 23 8 27 2 26 12 23 3 17 14 22 2 22 12 21 3 20 12 20 4 16 13 19 2 13 10 16 3 20 13 15 3 12 10 15 4 11 12 15 5 13 14 14 5 12 16 14 5 13 16 13 5 17 23 13 4 11 15 13 6 14 19 13 6 9 16 7 6 2 13 7 6 7 19 6 8 10 21 5
Yesterday Verona-Trapani ................................ 2-0 Vicenza-Perugia ............................... 1-4
Lega Pro A
Yesterday Como-Olbia ..................................... 2-2 Cremonese-Pistoiese ....................... 2-1 Giana Erminio-Racing Roma ............ 3-0 Prato-Lupa Roma ............................. 1-2 Viterbese-Livorno ............................ 1-1 Arezzo-Renate ................................. 3-1 Alessandria-Siena ............................ 5-2 Carrarese-Piacenza .......................... 1-0 Pro Piacenza-Lucchese .................... 0-0