Cagliari come back late on to salvage draw against AC Milan in six-goal thriller
After finishing as runners-up last term, Milan have had a shaky start to this season, entering this round of fixtures in seventh place. However, given the fact that Cagliari have recorded just one victory over Milan since 1999 (D8, L31), the visitors will have been confident of prevailing.
Within two minutes, though, the Rossoblu took the lead through Nadir Zortea. Nicolas Viola’s header found its way through to the Italian winger at the back post, and he fired a venomous first-time strike back across goal and into the bottom-left corner.
Nevertheless, Milan fought back and equalised with just over a quarter of an hour played.
The goal came following an exquisite chipped pass from Tijjani Reijnders to play Rafael Leao in one-on-one with Cagliari Alen Sherri, and the Portuguese winger kept his cool to lob the goalkeeper.
Five minutes before the break, Milan completed the comeback with Leao finding the back of the net once again, rounding Sherrin and slotting into the empty net.
The hosts thought they’d equalised on the brink of half-time, but Gabriele Zappa’s goal was ruled out for offside after a VAR review.
The hosts didn’t have to wait much longer to restore parity, though, as Zappa got his name on the scoresheet eight minutes after the interval.
The Italian right-back pounced on a Youssouf Fofana mistake and subsequently dispatched an excellent finish beyond Mike Maignan and into the corner.
Having suffered another setback, the response from Milan deserved credit, and they created several chances before regaining the lead.
On this occasion, Tammy Abraham was the hero, netting the rebound after Christian Pulisic saw his shot saved by Sherri.
Paulo Fonseca’s side, though, were unable to hold on to the winner as they conceded in the final minute of normal time.
Zappa grabbed his second, volleying past Maignan at the back post after a pinpoint cross from Tommaso Augelio.
The result lifts Cagliari up to 16th in the table, while Milan must now hope that those above them fail to get a result this weekend if they want to remain within touching distance of the top six.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Gabriele Zappa (Cagliari)