Bologna handed AC Milan another 2-1 defeat in a rescheduled Serie A clash, leaving their campaign in tatters.
Milan had set out for a positive outing after suffering a 2-1 loss against Torino last weekend. Eventually, they went ahead, but a controversial Santiago Castro equalizer canceled Rafael Leao’s opener, and they were caught napping on Dan Ndoye’s winner.
This Week 9 fixture was initially scheduled for October 2024 but was called off due to flood warnings.
Both teams went into the tie locked together on 41 points, and a win for the hosts would have put them above Sergio Conceicao’s men.
The visitors made their intention clear with a good start: Santiago Gimenez fired over on a Yunus Musah lay-off within 22 seconds.
A few minutes later, Malick Thiaw risked another own goal when deflecting the Benjamin Dominguez pull-back wide.
After Musah called Lukasz Skorupski into action with a near post shot, Dan Ndoye drilled wide on the counter-attack.
As both teams struggled to deal with the referee letting many challenges go, including timid penalty appeals from Ndoye and Youssouf Fofana, Dominguez twisted and turned away from Alex Jimenez to force a tricky save out of Mike Maignan at the near post.
Milan eventually took the lead just before half-time. Maignan released a long ball forward flicked on by Santiago Gimenez, and Rafael Leao sprinted through the center, dribbling around Skorupski to deposit into an empty net.
Bologna equalized after the restart. Lorenzo De Silvestri knocked down a free kick onto Giovanni Fabbian, the ricochet landing kindly for Santiago Castro to blast in from six yards.
Milan had hoped it would be disallowed for striking Fabian on the arm, but VAR gave it the all-clear.
Musah had a chance to restore their lead with a swift run from his own half, twisting and turning to bemuse Joao Miranda, but a great Skorupski save at the near post prevented him from scoring.
A substitute, Luka Jovic, released a weak header straight at Skorupski, but Bologna had a huge double chance when Nicolò Casale’s header thumped the near post after a corner, then Nicolò Cambiaghi fired the rebound inches over the bar.
Bologna eventually turned it around as Jimenez was caught napping by a throw-in as Cambiaghi turned him to stand up a cross at the by-line, with Ndoye at full stretch for the tap-in ahead of Strahinja Pavlovic from four yards.
