AC Milan and Atalanta shared the spoils following an entertaining 0-0 at the San Siro on Saturday night.
Though the first half was somewhat dull and lifeless, the second half was vibrant and thrilling. However, neither side were able to find the breakthrough, mainly due to some top goalkeeping and last-ditch clearances.
It was La Dea who made the better start to the match, and they almost scored through Alejandro Gomez.
Following some slack defending from Philippe Mexes, Mauricio Pinalla broke Milan’s offside trap and after beating Alessio Romagnoli, the Chilean delivered a cross along the six-yard-box but Gomez couldn’t flick it in.
The Rossoneri responded and dominated the next 20 minutes but only created their first chance when M’Baye Niang slipped in Carlos Bacca. The Colombian cut inside the defender but his thundered shot was blocked in the six-yard-box.
The rest of the half was hampered by cynical fouls as the two sides went into half-time with the score at 0-0.
Five minutes into the second-half Milan counterattacked Atalanta with the ball eventually reaching Niang. The Frenchman squared up the defender, jinked to his right and curled his shot straight into the hands of Sportiello.
In the 55th minute Gomez was wrongfully booked for a dive in the penalty box, following a challenge by substitute Davide Calabria.
Atalanta were having the better of the second-half, and came close to scoring but Luca Cigarini’s point blank header was denied by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The 16-year-old then made another decent stop two minutes later to deny Maxi Moralez’s fierce shot at the near post.
Despite La Dea dominating the closing stages, the Diavolo did come close when Luiz Adriano had his header from a corner cleared off the line.
Milan had one final chance in stoppage time but following a lightning counterattack, Alessio Cerci could only put his effort into the side netting after going one-on-one and rounding Sportiello.
The result leaves the Rossoneri in 5th and Atalanta are 8th in the table.
