AC Milan held in Sassuolo thriller as Inter close in on Serie A title

Noah Okafor salvaged a hard-fought point for Milan in the 84th minute on a hot spring day in Reggio Emilia, but second-placed Milan still risk conceding the Scudetto to Inter in a hotly-anticipated derby despite coming back from two goals down. Milan, who also netted through a sublime individual goal from Rafael Leao and Luka Jovic's close-range finish, are 13 points behind their local rivals with six fixtures left in their season.

Should Inter beat Cagliari at the San Siro as expected, the champions-elect would only need to draw with Milan on Monday week in order to secure their 20th league crown. That would be a bitter pill to swallow for Milan, who have never been in the title race this season as Inter have charged off into the distance since the turn of the year.

"We created more opportunities than in any match this season, if we'd had scored five or six goals no-one could have said anything," said Milan coach Stefano Pioli. "But we have to be better because our coming matches demand a higher level of performance."

Pioli made a raft of changes in the wake of a first-leg defeat to Roma in the Europa League quarter-finals and were two goals behind with less than 10 minutes on the clock following early strikes from Andrea Pinamonti and Armand Lauriente. Frenchman Lauriente's second seven minutes after the break - which re-established Sassuolo's two-goal lead after Leao struck in the 20th minute - enabled second-from-bottom Sassuolo to move to within two points of safety.

Now Milan's return leg in Rome on Thursday takes on even more significance as failing to overturn a single-goal deficit in that tie would be a huge blow ahead of the Milan derby and then a trip to third-placed Juventus the following weekend.

"I believe 100 percent in my team, we have men of quality, we are a really good team," said goalscorer Okafor. "Now have to focus... for sure we are going to Rome to win."

 

April 14, 2024