AC Milan fans walk out after disappointing draw to Genoa

The San Siro stadium witnessed a strange atmosphere in the 3-3 thriller with Genoa, as Milan fans sat in silence to protest their season, then walked out 10 minutes from time.

The Rossoneri found themselves on the back foot after just three minutes as Tomori, who just returned from a game ban, clumsily brought down Alessandro Vogliacco in the box to concede a penalty.

Genoa, with their usual penalty taker Gudmundsson out, handed the task to Mateo Retegui, who converted by sending Marco Sportiello the wrong way to end his 70-day goal drought.

Christian Pulisic got so close to restoring parity, but the American was unlucky as his right-foot curler bounced off the far post. Tijjani Reijnders drilled wide, and Johan Vasquez made a decisive tackle on Samuel Chukwueze.

Genoa had a chance to double their lead, but Morten Frendrup swept wide a first-time finish while Rafael Leao failed to make the most of a Koni De Winter error with a deflected finish into the arms of Josep Martinez.

Martinez was again called into action with two excellent saves in under a minute. He first fingertiped the Pulisic strike out of the far top corner and then parried the Theo Hernandez header on the resulting corner.

Milan eventually restored parity on the stroke of half-time through Alessandro Florenzi.

He was left unmarked after a free from four yards while he nodded in a Samuel Chukwueze cross to score his first Serie A goal since May 8, 20Direct22, against Verona, a gap of 728 days.

 Milan again went a goal down as again Genoa punished them for sluggish defending on a long ball that first saw the Morten Frendrup shot charged down before Vogliacco’s cross found Ekuban for a towering header over Matteo Gabbia.

Chukwueze restored parity moments later from a tight angle, but his goal was chalked off, having made the run too early and been caught offside.

Martinez again showed his presence when he punched a dangerous Chukwueze cross off the head of Olivier Giroud. Theo Hernandez, who went on a classic run from his own half, failed to finish off the good work as his effort was a weak finish straight at the goalkeeper.

Milan missed a sitter in the 69th minute when Noah Okafor, who replaced a jeered Leao, rolled across only for Giroud to dink it wide of the open goal one-on-one with Martinez.

Milan eventually equalised as Florenzi’s corner found Gabbia for a header off the ground into the far bottom corner.

Milan eventually turned the tie around three minutes later as Giroud, this time around, scored a far more difficult left-foot volley from a tight angle from a Pulisic cross.

This was not enough to stop Milan fans from protesting. After sitting in silence for 80 minutes, the entire Curva Sud walked out with 10 minutes to go, leaving only a banner that read: ‘The sound of silence.’

Milan then conceded a comical third goal as Morten Thorsby rolled across from the right, which ricocheted off Tomori, Malick Thiaw, and Retegui to bundle over the line. 

Theo Hernandez had an opportunity to score the goal of the season, but his volley went off target.

Written by Oladipupo Mojeed