Milan were under no illusions as to the importance of getting a widely-expected victory, following Inter’s win over Leece yesterday. However, they almost had a rude awakening here, when Mateo Pellegrino’s first-time strike was deflected wide, before Mike Maigan denied the Argentine from the subsequent corner.
Massimiliano Allegri’s side’s afternoon didn’t get any better from there, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek stretchered off following a collision with Parma goalkeeper Edoardo Corvi.
Ardon Jashari was the Englishman’s replacement, as his tame shot was comfortably gathered by Corvi shortly after being introduced. There were signs that the hosts were starting to find their flow when Christian Pulisic and Jashari both tested Corvi with further efforts. The former then disappointingly scuffed his effort wide from Adrien Rabiot’s headed cut-back, as a largely lacklustre first half came to a close.
Allegri’s men pressed forward after the restart, as Corvi brilliantly thwarted Rafael Leao, before Mariano Troilo made a superb defensive block to deny Pulisic on the follow-up.
The exasperation on Leao’s face was clear to see when his sliding effort cannoned off the post, with Parma continuing to hold firm. The familiar failings returned though, and Milan struggled to significantly test Corvi often enough, with one of the Rossoneri’s more promising openings seeing Strahinja Pavlovic miss with his header from Davide Bartesaghi’s free-kick.
That would prove extremely costly, as Carlos Cuesta’s side applied a deadly sucker punch when Troilo powered home a fine header from Emanuele Valeri’s corner.
It initially looked like the effort may have been chalked off due to an infringement in the box, but a tense VAR review overturned referee Marco Piccinini’s initial decision.
Naturally, though, Parma weren’t getting the three points easily, and substitute Niclas Fullkrug could have found an equaliser in stoppage time, but flashed his effort wide on a hugely disappointing night for Allegri’s men.
The inquest will begin after Milan suffered a second home league defeat of the season, with their hopes of winning the Scudetto left in tatters. Meanwhile, this was a heroic performance from the Crusaders, who secured three consecutive top-flight wins for the first time since March 2014, and have duly moved up three places in the table to 12th.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mariano Troilo (Parma)
