AC Milan defeated Cagliari 2-1 at the Stadio Sant’Elia on Sunday afternoon in Serie A.
The Rossoneri clinched a last gasp and continue their Serie A revival under new coach Clarence Seedorf defeating the Sardinians with goals from Mario Balotelli and Giampaolo Pazzini cancelling out Marco Sau’s first half strike.
On a windy afternoon in Sardinian both sides had the weather to contend with as well as the efforts of their opponents, however, despite the Diego Lopez’ side visibly the more restricted by the conditions during the opening period it was them who went into the break ahead after an error by Milan goalkeeper Marco Amelia.
Before the goal the Rossoneri keeper had already nearly gifted the Isolani the lead in the opening minutes when his poor distribution led to the ball breaking to Andrea Cossu, but fortunately for the Diavola his heavy touch allowed Amelia to smother.
After that initial scare it was Milan who had looked the most likely to take the lead as Balotelli and January arrival Keisuke Honda forced saves from Isolani goalkeeper Vlada Avramov.
On 16 minutes it saw some excellent work by Balotelli to control the ball and avoid the attention of two Cagliari players, but despite firing off a powerful drive it was straight at Avramov.
Minutes later Honda found himself one-on-one with the Serbian after a perfectly timed first time ball by the Italian frontman, however, his low drive across the keeper was turned away with his legs for a corner kick.
With nearly 30 minutes gone it was time for Amelia to make the crucial error and gift Sau the opening goal clearing straight to Cagliari’s Maurico Pinilla who supplied the striker with a delicately chipped pass that he controlled brilliantly on his chest before sending the keeper the wrong way and rolling into an empty net.
Just before the break Honda nearly saved the goalkeepers blushes when he met a perfectly weighted cross from full-back Mattia De Sciglio, only to see his header expertly saved at point blank range.
Despite needing to turn the match around Milan began the second period in a somewhat moderately and by the time there were around 20 minutes remaining had created just two clear chances which Balotelli and Honda both wasted in stunning fashion.
It was actually the home side that nearly doubled their lead towards the latter stages of the match when Pinilla collected the on the left hand edge of the Rossoneri box but his angled drive across Amelia flew just wide of the post.
With the Rossoblu deciding defend their lead for the closing 10 minutes of the match Seedorf’s side were allowed the majority of possession, and until a reckless handball on the edge of the area by Matias Cabrera looked as though their defensive solidity would hold out.
However, from the resulting free-kick Balotelli curled a wonderful shot past Avramov and the comeback was underway.
Minutes later the Rossoneri forced the hosts to concede a corner and after Honda had swept the ball towards the penalty spot substitute Pazzini hooked the ball into the net after holding off the challenge of Daniele Conti to win the match.
Follow Kevin Pogorzelski on Twitter: @rabbitrabbiton
