Roma and Milan drew 1-1 at the Olimpico in the late Sunday match of the 22nd round of Serie A. Connie De Winter scored for the visitors in the 62nd minute, and in the 74th, substitute Lorenzo Pellegrini equalized from the penalty spot, Sportal.bg reported.
Gian Piero Gasperini expectedly made a lot of changes to his starting lineup after the 2-0 victory over Stuttgart in the Europa League, and there were six of them. Gianluca Mancini and Evan Ndika returned to the defense at the expense of Jan Zilkowski and Devine Rensch, because Mehmet Zeki Celik was moved to the right half-back position. Konstantinos was not active on the left flank Tsimikas, and Wesley. In the midfield, Nicolo Pizzilli gave way to Brian Cristante. Paulo Dybala and Donyell Malen returned to the forward positions, so Pellegrini and Evan Ferguson started on the bench.
Meanwhile, Massimiliano Alletri made three changes after the 1-0 victory over Lecce in the previous round. Davide Barthezaghi returned as a left-back in place of Pervis Estupinian, and Ardon Jashari gave way to Luka Modric in midfield. In attack, this time, Rafael Leao's partner was Christopher Nkunku, not Christian Pulisic.
Before the start of the match, the Roman “Curva Sud“ had prepared a special choreography in memory of Antonio De Falcao – a fan of “Wolves“, who in 1989 was the victim of an attack by Milan fans and lost his life at the age of just 19. At the request of his sister Anna and his nephews, the Roman ultras raised a giant banner depicting a Polaroid photo of De Falchi in the Giallorossi shirt he wore on every away game. On both sides were orange, red and white cards showing the words “Imperitura memoria” (Eternal memory). The away fans responded with vulgar chants: “You make us laugh.”
In the opening seconds of the match, Malen tried to score, but Mike Mengian caught the ball after it hit the ground. Alexis Salemakers quickly responded with a long-range shot that went over the goal. In the eighth minute, Mengian twice prevented the hosts from finding the net, first saving a shot from Manu Kone on the ground and then the added time. from close range to Malen. In the 14th minute, the Dutchman failed to score with a header from a set piece. Five minutes later, the striker volleyed from a great position, but sent the ball wide of the goal.
A long period without shots followed, which was interrupted in the 33rd minute, when Malen failed to beat Menjan with his performance from a small angle. Shortly before the break, Modric blocked a shot by Celik, who sent the ball wide of the goal with his second attempt, and seconds later, Mathias Soule also missed the target. In the added time of the first half, Menjan made another brilliant save, this time after a close-range shot by Celik. Thus, the "wolves" retired at the break without a lead despite their 10 shots, while the guests did not make a single accurate shot in 45 minutes.
In the 50th minute, Adrien Rabiot caused Mile Svilar's first save of the match with his a shot on the ground. In the 62nd minute, after a short corner kick, Modric crossed into the penalty area, where De Winter headed in his debut goal for Milan. Interestingly, the defender scored his first goal in Serie A against Roma - with the Genoa team in September 2024.
However, the hosts managed to equalize in the 74th minute, when Pellegrini converted a penalty awarded for a handball by Barthezaghi. Mengan felt the direction of the shot from the penalty spot, but this time he failed to make a save, unlike the first match between the two teams this season, when he reflected Dybala's performance in the final minutes. In the remaining time, Cristante and reserve Niklas Fülkrug failed to score a winning goal for their teams, and the referee refused to give a second penalty for the “wolves“.