Long-serving Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini openly questioned his future at the club in the week, so he’d have been looking for a response from his beleaguered squad that had failed to win any of their last four league matches.
He almost got one inside 10 minutes, but after being teed up by Ademola Lookman, on-loan Charles De Ketelaere somehow blazed over from point-blank range against his parent club.
It would’ve been a cruel twist of fate were Milan to concede to one of their own players, but as half-time approached, lady luck wasn’t on their side as they fell behind.
Skipping in from the left, Lookman let fly from the edge of the area, only for his shot to take a wicked deflection off Fikayo Tomori and loop over the despairing Mike Maignan.
Things were looking rosy for La Dea, however, deep into first-half stoppage time, Olivier Giroud met a corner with a bullet header that beat Juan Musso all ends up and sent the sides in level at the break.
That strike came beyond the allocated two added minutes, leaving Atalanta with a sense of injustice as they emerged from the restart.
It was present in their play as they pushed for a second goal, and Lookman got it, rifling home from De Ketelaere’s low cross within 10 minutes of the resumption.
Stefano Pioli’s men needed a second equaliser but they looked much more likely to concede again as Atalanta continued to dominate. A marauding run down the right from Giorgio Scalvini culminated in the defender forcing an impressive save from Maignan before the Frenchman picked himself up to deny Lookman a hat-trick twice in quick succession.
Those saves would almost immediately prove vital, as the Rossoneri clawed themselves back onto level terms when Luka Jovic turned home a low cross that evaded all comers at the near post.
Milan had the momentum after that strike but were reduced to 10 men in stoppage time when Davide Calabria received a second yellow card for a late challenge.
The game was meandering towards stalemate before that, but the hosts had other ideas and produced a last-gasp winner straight out of the top drawer.
Slotted in by Aleksei Miranchuk, Muriel improvised beautifully to backheel the ball beyond Maignan, sending the Gewiss Stadium wild as La Dea ended a four-match winless run in Serie A.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ademola Lookman (Atalanta)
