Milestone Ibra goal rescues point for Milan while Juve slips at Venezia
ZLATAN Ibrahimovic struck a milestone goal in the stoppage time to help AC Milan rescue a 1-1 draw against Udinese while fallen giant Juventus continued to struggle in a 1-1 stalemate against Venezia on Saturday.
Ibrahimovic’s acrobatic effort in the 92nd minute helped the Swede become the third player to score 300 goals in the top-five European leagues since the turn of the century, after Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
It was enough to claim a point for the Rossoneri but Inter Milan, who is two points behind its local rival in second, could end the weekend in the first place with a win over Cagliari yesterday.
Napoli is a further point back and can move level on 39 points with Milan before Inter kick off with a win over Empoli in Naples, with some of its key players including Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Lorenzo Insigne back in the squad.
Milan is in the midst of an injury crisis, with starting center back Simon Kjaer out long-term and forwards Olivier Giroud, Rafael Leao and Ante Rebic all sidelined, and it was another low-key display after being dumped out of Europe by Liverpool midweek.
Beto put the host in a 17th-minute lead in Gabriele Cioffi’s first match as Udinese’s caretaker boss when he bundled home on the rebound after Mike Maignan saved his first effort when clean through on goal.
Beto could easily have sealed the points for Udinese in the closing stages when he slipped a close-range finish just wide, and Ibrahimovic got something from the game for his underwhelming team when he took Daniel Maldini’s knockdown and thrashed home a barely deserved leveler.
JUVENTUS SLIPS
Mattia Aramu earned promoted Venezia an excellent point against Juve with a curling low drive nine minutes after halftime.
The 26-year-old’s fifth goal of the season, which equalized Alvaro Morata’s 32nd-minute opener, moved Venezia six points away from the relegation zone, a great response after throwing away a three-goal lead to lose to rival Verona last week.
Juve meanwhile is sixth after being leapfrogged by Fiorentina – 4-0 winner over Salernitana earlier in the day – and is six points behind Atalanta, who sits in the final Champions League spot.
Matters were made worse for Juve by the early loss of Paulo Dybala to injury, the latest of a series of niggling problems for the Argentine.
The 28-year-old, who was substituted at halftime of Juve’s 1-0 win over Malmo on Wednesday, limped off the field in the 12th minute and after being replaced by Kaio Jorge was seen with a bandage around his right knee.
Serbia forward Dusan Vlahovic lashed home Fiorentina’s second five minutes after halftime and tapped in Riccardo Sottil’s low cross six minutes from the end in a thumping win at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in which Giacomo Bonaventura and Youssef Maleh scored the other goals.
Vlahovic, 21, has now scored 32 Serie A goals in 2021.