Gattuso suffers dire AC Milan debut as Benevento keeper grabs goal

Gennaro Gattuso’s debut as AC Milan coach ended in nightmarish fashion when goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli equalised in the fifth minute of stoppage time to earn Benevento their first-ever point in the top division with an improbable 2-2 draw yesterday.

Brignoli came forward for the final play of the match and scored with a leaping header following a free-kick.

“It’s difficult to describe,” said Brignoli, who is on loan from Juventus. “I was thinking ‘It’s 2-1, the 95th minute, we have nothing to lose’. I went up there, closed my eyes and jumped.”

The last goalkeeper to score in Serie A was Massimo Taibi in 2001 with Reggina. Benevento had lost all 14 of their matches for the worst start to a season in modern history among Europe’s five major leagues. If Benevento had lost again, the southern club would have matched Brescia in 1994-95 for the longest losing streak in Italian league history.

Gattuso, a former stalwart in midfield for Milan and Rangers, was hired to replace the fired Vincenzo Montella on Monday.

“It hurts. A knife wound would have been better than this goal,” Gattuso said. “We’re Milan and we need to be better, because this isn’t enough.”

In an up and down day for the Milan clubs, Ivan Perisic scored a hat-trick as Inter took the Serie A lead with a convincing 5-0 rout of Chievo Verona at the San Siro.

Kevin-prince Boateng returned to his hometown club and scored for Eintracht Frankfurt as they beat Hertha Berlin 2-1 in the Bundesliga yesterday.