On Saturday at the Allianz Stadium, Juventus ended a winless streak of home Serie A games against AC Milan which lasted over five years. Having previously won such a match in November, 2019, when Paulo Dybala scored the only goal, the Bianconeri finally beat this particular rival at home again, this time through quick-succession goals from Samuel Mbagula (59′) and Timothy Weah (64′).
The teams
Juve winger Francisco Conceicao was unable to face his father in the opposition dugout through an unspecified injury. Defenders Gleison Bremer and Juan Cabal, as well as striker Arkadiusz Milik, all remain out with rather serious knee problems.
While Weah was initially on the bench, Mbagula was deployed on the left wing from the start, as a part of the trio including Kenan Yildiz and Teun Koopmeiners which supported Nico Gonzalez as the striker again. Manuel Locatelli and Kephren Thuram were positioned behind that trio, providing protection for the back line consisting of Weston McKennie on the right, Andrea Cambiaso on the left, and the centre-back pairing of Federico Gatti and Milan loanee Pierre Kalulu. The goal was covered by the gloved figure of Michele Di Gregorio.
As for the visitors, coach Sergio Conceicao matters other than potentially seeing his son to think about, with Milan’s injury list significantly longer than that of Juventus. He couldn’t call upon defenders Alessandro Florenzi (knee) and Malick Thiaw (thigh), midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek (knock), as well as forwards Samuel Chukwueze, Christian Pulisic (both thigh), Noah Okafor (calf) and Alvaro Morata (yellow-card accumulation).
With Mike Maignan between the posts, Matteo Gabbia and Fikayo Tomori paired up in the heart of defence, flanked by Theo Hernandez on the left and Emerson Royal on the right. Ismael Bennacer anchored a three-man midfield, consisting of Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders. Rafael Leao and Yunus Musah attacked from the flanks, with Tammy Abraham leading the line.
Match recap
Mbagula looked lively from the start. He threatened first at either end of the pitch with a curved long-range effort which flew just over the top corner in the eighth minute. Juventus pressed on, and six minutes later, it was Koopmeiners’ turn to let one fly from distance and miss narrowly.
Milan’s first proper opportunity came in the 19th minute, when Reijnders took advantage of a cunningly taken corner to try and score, but the ball couldn’t find a path through the many bodies in front of Di Gregorio goal. Koopmeiners delivered a perfect cross from a free-kick for Juventus in the 21st minute, but Gatti’s header went just wide of the target.
There was a bit of controversy in the Juventus box six minutes later. A nicely played one-two between Hernandez and Fofana allowed the French left-back to break down the flank, enter the box and put the ball up for Bennacer making his run through the middle. Thuram was, however, chasing the Milan midfielder, and just as Bennacer was about to shoot, he slid in. The ball went past both players and Bennacer went to ground, holding his ankle. Referee Davide Massa didn’t seem to be considering a penalty at all, and the slow-motion footage later revealed there had been no reason for the VAR to send him to the pitch-side screen – Thuram got the ball first, before making slight contact with Bennacer. Milan still had several great chances to score in that moment, but Di Gregorio first made an excellent save from Leao, and then Hernandez failed to find the back of the net from two attempts.
On the stroke of 35 minutes, Juventus played out from the back and Gatti broke through the Milan press to take the ball forward. He passed to Gonzalez through the middle and continued his run while Gonzalez played it to Cambiaso straight away. Cambiaso’s low diagonal cross from the left went through the box and found Yildiz unmarked on the far post, and it was Maignan’s turn to produce a great save as he denied the Turkish forward. Kalulu narrowly missed a header from the ensuing corner.
The last chance of the first half belonged to Milan, also after a corner. Initially half-cleared by Yildiz, the ball was picked up on the left by Leao who whipped it across, seeking for Hernandez on the far post, but Hernandez’s header back across towards Abraham inside the six yards was intercepted by Gatti.
Juve boss Thiago Motta made the first change of the game as Weah made his way onto the pitch at the start of the second half instead of Yildiz, and there were good signs from the USA international straight away. In the 53rd minute, Di Gregorio sent the ball far up the pitch and Gonzalez won it in the air, releasing Weah in behind. Weah broke into the box and fired powerfully on target, and as Maignan saved the rocket and it seemed the Rossoneri would be able to clear the danger, they risked too much inside their own box, allowing Koopmeiners to reclaim the ball for Juventus. The Dutch international sold Tomori a dummy and fired, forcing Magnan into yet another great save.
But there was nothing the French goalkeeper could do to save Milan in the 59th minute. Juventus worked up a nice team play, involving Koopmeiners, McKennie, Thuram and Gonzalez, before Mbagula’s shot from wide picked up a deflection off Emerson and cheated the Rossoneri shot-stopper on its way into the net. 1-0.
Just five minutes later, Thuram picked the ball up in the middle of the park and threaded a lovely pass through for Weah, who still had Tomori to deal with. And deal with the Milan defender he did, before wrong-footing Maignan from around 12 yards. 2-0.
Milan obviously tried to get back into the contest and Conceicao gave substitutes Alejandro Jimenez, Francesco Camarda, Luka Jovic and Filippo Terracciano a chance to show their quality, but to no avail and the scoreline remained unchanged to the end.
Important Juve victory, sore blow for Milan
This match was a good opportunity for Milan to gain a strong foothold in the race for the spots leading into next season’s Champions League. Had they won, they would’ve closed the gap to Juventus completely. As it is, they now sit eighth with 31 points, trailing Lazio in fourth place by eight, and Bologna and Fiorentina in sixth and seventh, who also have a game in hand, by two.
Speaking of the Champions League, Conceicao’s team will face La Liga side Girona on Wednesday, before attempting to atone slightly for this loss when they host 15th-place Parma at the end of the week.
Meanwhile, Juventus have moved up to fifth, six ahead of Milan and trail Lazio by just two. The Scudetto is probably a dream over at this point, with Napoli far ahead and only Inter and Atalanta standing any chance of catching up with Antonio Conte’s side. But this triumph has obviously given the Bianconeri a significant boost in the top-four battle.
Juventus are scheduled to travel to Belgium for an encounter with Club Brugge next, and then, unlike Milan, they have a difficult task to deal with domestically as well – a trip to Naples to take on the Serie A leaders.
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