Serie A: Cagliari vs AC Milan – Luck strikes for Milan towards the end of the game
AC Milan traveled to Cagliari knowing that a win in the team’s first game of the year would help them extend their lead at the top of the table. As a result, the Rossoneri went into the game the more determined of the two.
However, the task at hand was made all the more difficult for the visitors as the team had a host of players ruled out of the game. The players who were unable to make the trip due to injury were http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gianluca-Zambrotta-c14831,
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Zlatan-Ibrahimovic-c38029, who was forced to sit the game out due to a suspension.
On the other hand, Cagliari were fielding a completely fit side and despite having already lost three times at home, seemed to be fairly confident that they could cause an upset and defeat the injury-ravaged Milan side.
The line-ups for the game were as follows.
MILAN: http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alexandre-Pato-c4901
Subs: http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mario-Yepes-c24052, Rodney Strasser
CAGLIARI: Michael Agazzi, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alessandro-Matri-c4733
Subs: http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Davide-Biondini-c10641
The match kicked off with Milan controlling the pace of the game, despite being short a number of key players. However, the team seemed to be lacking determination up front. As the match progressed, the home-side seemed to take
a strong footing in the game and went on to create numerous chances.
Neither one of the sides managed to really create a clear-cut chance in front of the opposing goal, and as a result the scores remained nil-all at the end of the first half.
The second half played out in almost the exact same manner as the first. Milan started off on the stronger foot, but Cagliari slowly got back in the game and gave Milan a run for their money.
In the 61st minute, there was a scare for the home-side as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michael-Agazzi-c25264 went down injured after colliding with Thiago Silva. The keeper however managed to recover from the knock after staying down for a few minutes
and got right back into the thick of things.
However the real talking point of the second half was the introduction of Antonio Cassano and Rodney Strasser in the game. The two second-half substitutes were the players involved in the only goal of the game. In the 85th minute,
Cassano made a pass to Strasser from the edge of the box and the midfielder did brilliantly to hold off his marker and smash the ball into the back of the net. The goal was the first that Strasser had scored for Milan, but it proved to a very crucial one as
it gave the visitors all three points on the night and helped extend their lead to five points at the top of the Serie A table.
Tags: