AC Milan 1-1 Fiorentina
Adrian Mutu came good on his promise late last week, his 56th minute strike cancelling out Kaka's first half penalty and earning Fiorentina a draw at the San Siro.
Milan failed to win all three points tonight against Fiorentina, despite dominating for the entire first half.
The Viola will be happy with the point won, but the most important thing is that they proved that they can compete with all the big guns in Serie A this season.
Milan fielded the same formation which triumphed at Monaco in the European Super Cup, apart from Filippo Inzaghi who was replaced by Alberto Gilardino as the lone striker up front.
At the other end, Cesare Prandelli had to do without the talented young midfielder Montolivo and relied on Mutu and Pazzini upfront, whilst Vieri started from the bench.
After a balanced first quarter hour, the Rossoneri started taking the game into their hands, and in the 14th minute Gilardino almost opened the score but Frey made a great instinct save.
The first shot on goal by Fiorentina arrived in the 20th minute with Pazzini, but Dida easily saved the weak shot. Two minutes later the same Pazzini almost made it 1-0, but his header went over the bar.
Apart from these two occasions, Milan were in command thanks to some solid football, and in the 27th minute the European champions took the lead. Dainelli fouled Ambrosini in the penalty area and Kaka made it 1-0 from the spot.
Kaka almost made it 2-0 in the 33rd minute, but his shot went just wide, whereas Pazzini tried his luck again in the 38th minute with a shot from the long distance, but the ball went high.
Milan deservedly went to the break leading 1-0, with Fiorentina being a far cry from the spectacular side admired in the early part of the season. They did have one chance going into the interval, though, Pazzini twice being denied by Dida from close range.
Prandelli decided not to make changes despite the Viola suffering Milan's technical abilities in the first half and the belief in the team was repaid in the 55th minute as Adrian Mutu headed in a Santana cross from the left hand side.
Milan tried to push more forward in order to regain the lead and Kaka almost scored again in the 66th minute when his shot from the edge of the penalty was saved in corner by Frey. The Rossoneri's pressure was allowing the Viola to counter attack and Mutu almost scored his second goal of the night.
The biggest miss of the night went to Inzaghi who came in instead of Gilardino in the 65th minute. Superpippo missed a sitter as he completely failed to deflect a cross by Ambrosini when he was all alone in front of goal in the 70th minute.
Four minutes later it was Christian Vieri who almost scored for Fiorentina, but Nesta saved the day for the Rossoneri and in the 81st minute Kuzmanovic incredibly hit the post in front of an open goal for Fiorentina.
Earlier, in the 76th minute Emerson made his debut for Milan as he replaced Ambrosini in midfield.
The Rossoneri’s pressure in the final minutes proved futile as Fiorentina held on to a precious and important away draw at San Siro. The Viola improved drastically in the second half and in the end deserved the equalizer, though the Fiorentina fans will still be recriminating for the opportunity missed by Kuzmanovic to win all three points.
Milan played extremely well in the first half, but in the second period gave too much space to Fiorentina. However, following tonight’s performance, the Rossoneri fans can rest assured that their squad are very competitive this year and not many teams will be able to hold them at San Siro. They, too, could have won it with their chances.
Milan: Dida; Oddo (Cafu 61), Nesta, Kaladze, Jankulovski; Gattuso, Pirlo, Ambrosini (Emerson 76); Kakà, Seedorf; Gilardino (Inzaghi 65).
Fiorentina: Frey; Ujfalusi, Dainelli, Gamberini, Pasqual; Donadel (Kuzmanovic 57), Liverani, Gobbi; Santana (Semioli 62), Pazzini (Vieri 62), Mutu.
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