The bleak start to the year continues for AC Milan after they struggled to rally from a two-goal deficit to draw with Lecce 2-2 on Saturday and lose ground in the Serie A title fight.
An early own goal from Théo Hernández and Federico Baschirotto’s header gave Lecce a solid lead at half time. But Milan, who blew a two-goal lead earlier in the week, salvaged a point with goals from Rafael Leão and captain Davide Calabria.
Milan regained second place in the standings but is nine points behind Napoli, which crushed Juventus 5-1 on Friday.
“Of course it’s not pretty, you want to go with the three points”, admitted the Milan defender Sergiño Dest.
Meanwhile, Inter Milan were level on points with Juventus, one behind AC Milan, after beating relegation-endangered Hellas Verona 1-0.
After starting 2023 beating Salernitana, Milan continues to decline. The Rossoneri drew 2-2 on Sunday with Roma and were knocked out of the Italian Cup on Wednesday by Torino, who were down to 10 men.
THE MAGIC OF MARTINEZ
World champion Lautaro Martínez scored for the third consecutive game with Inter.
The Argentina international helped Inter get off to a perfect start after three minutes. Henrikh Mkhitaryan ran into the box and Roberto Gagliardini’s shot was cleared, but the ball fell to Martínez, who shot on goal.
Martinez’s ninth league goal came after he netted midweek in the Coppa Italia win over Parma.
In addition, Martinez had another goal disallowed in the 63rd minute for a foul on Verona defender Pawel Dawidowicz in the previous play.
bleak future
Cremonese’s future in the Serie looks increasingly bleak after the Serei A bottom line lost 3-2 at home to Monza.
Cremonese remains the only team that has not won and is eight points away from permanence.