AC MILAN 0 BOLOGNA 0: MILAN HELD AT HOME BY BOLOGNA, MOVE POINT CLEAR AT TOP OF SERIE A.
League-leaders AC Milan took their foot off the accelerator in a forlorn stalemate against Bologna, failing to fully capitalise their lead at the top of the Serie A table. Despite extending their unbeaten streak to 11 matches, they will rue not overcoming the ‘Rossoblù’, who have not won in their last 13 H2H matches against the ‘Rossoneri’.
With Inter Milan still alive and well in the running for a second successive Scudetti after narrowly ousting Juventus in the Derby d’Italia, the onus was on AC Milan to squeeze a victory by any means. The first real chance fell to Rafael Leão from 18-yards, who in turn, blasted the ball high over the crossbar, much to the relief of the Bologna faithful at the San Siro.
The visitors then responded with a chance of their own midway through the half. ‘Rossoblù’ ace Musa Barrow struck a sweet long-range effort destined for the top right corner, only to witness Mike Maignan leap like a frog to brilliantly thwart it away. Stefano Pioli’s men found no proper footing as the HT whistle approached, despite Olivier Giroud forcing visiting shot-stopper Łukasz Skorupski into a diving save in the dying minutes of the first period.
The Emilia-Romagna side restarted proceedings in the same manner that they finished the first half. Skorupski was called into action with yet another formidable save from Leão’s shot, but this time with his right foot. ‘Rossoneri’ captain Davide Calabria and substitute Ante Rebić both found openings after the hour mark, but saw their efforts miss the goal by considerable margins, as the home side continued to inch closer to the opener.
Pioli introduced Zlatan Ibrahimović for the final 20 minutes with the intention of upping the ante in their favour, but a lack of clarity and creativity upfront combined to hand the hosts their first goalless league match at home since January against Juventus.
Milan finished the match just as they started it – atop Serie A standings – but will take little inspiration from their display going forward. Meanwhile, Bologna remain without an away league win since December 2021 – a winless run of seven matches that only adds to their woes on the road this campaign.
