Milan ground out a win at Cremonese

AC Milan had to grind out a win against Cremonese in a Serie A clash on Sunday night.

Max Allegri’s men got the maximum points through an unorthodox last-minute Strahinja Pavlovic goal, and Rafael Leao made up for big misses with a stoppage-time tap-in to break down their hosts.

This was a revenge for the Rossoneri, who had suffered two Serie A defeats this season, one during the opening weekend against Cremonese and last week against Parma, both at San Siro. 

Francesco Folino was called into action with a desperate interception to stop Rafael Leao tapping in the Adrien Rabiot cross from six yards.

After Alexis Saelemaekers drilled his effort wide from the edge of the area, the hosts almost opened the goal chart when Federico Bonazzoli’s volley on a Giuseppe Pezzella cross was deflected inches wide, while Jamie Vardy swung off target too from the resulting corner.

Leao got the simplest of chances to score on 34 minutes when sent through by Youssouf Fofana. The Portuguese attacker had drawn out Emil Audero, but incredibly drilled wide of the empty net from nine yards.

Audero was out again to stop Christian, who also sprung the offside trap on another wonderful Fofana pass, as he was able to get a fingertip to the American’s finish.

Rabiot nodded just over the bar from a corner, and Vardy got a chance again, but it was charged down in the area by Fikayo Tomori.

After Luperto’s effort got deflected, Leao wasted another golden opportunity. The attacker prodded the Rabiot assist over from six yards as Audero rushed off his line to narrow the angle.

Alessio Zerbin released a pull-back to Jari Vandeputte, who ballooned over from the edge of the box, while Niclas Fullkrug also failed to take a chance from a tap-in on a Leao roll across, falling awkwardly in the process.

There were several chances from both sides, with Milan having most of them.

Luperto forced Maignan into a tricky one-handed save from the header that was going under the bar from a free kick, and Fullkrug failed to keep his header down on a Modric cross from a corner.

Davide Bartesaghi had to go while clutching the back of his right thigh after earning a corner. 

Milan scored from the resulting spotkick as Modric whipped in the cross, Koni De Winter glanced it with his head, it struck Pavlovic on the face and shoulder before going in at the back post. 

Milan celebrated the goal by rushing to meet Bartesaghi, who was still being helped off the field by medical staff.

Cremonese left a gap as they looked for an equaliser and ended up conceding another on the counter in stoppages. 

Fullkrug released Christopher Nkunku, who sprinted from the centre circle and rolled the ball across for Leao to sweep in from eight yards with the inside of the right boot.