Tribal Football

AC Milan and Juventus play out drab goalless draw in Serie A

Max Davis
AC Milan's Rafael Leao (right) fights for the ball with Juventus' Nicolo Savona
AC Milan's Rafael Leao (right) fights for the ball with Juventus' Nicolo SavonaAction Plus
The 242nd edition of Italian football’s most-played fixture ended in a draw, with neither AC Milan nor Juventus able to find the net in a drab 0-0 stalemate at San Siro.

Milan are not part of the sextet who started the round within two points of each other at the top of Serie A, but that is where their ambitions lie, and victories in these kinds of fixtures are surely integral if they are to keep pace.

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Juventus were missing some key attackers with injury, leading Thiago Motta to set up a free-form, strikerless forward line which yielded early efforts from Teun Koopmeiners and Kenan Yildiz.

The visitors’ back line looked solid, but if anyone was going to cause them trouble it would likely be Rafael Leao. The talismanic winger - who scored his 50th Serie A goal last time out - whipped an inventive cross to Alvaro Morata at the back post, but the Spaniard could do no more than nod wide.

That was about it for a cagey opening period, but things began to open up after the restart, with Malick Thiaw making a last-ditch block to stop Andrea Cambiaso from finding the target from close range.

Juventus were controlling possession, and their nine clean sheets from 12 previous league games showed why the hosts struggled to break them down.

Still, they mounted some late pressure, and Youssouf Fofana thumped over, but time ran out with neither side creating any sort of clear chance throughout the whole contest.

Milan’s failure to win here saw them slip further from the European spots, with their form appearing to fizzle out since a famous 3-1 away win over Real Madrid prior to the international break.

Juventus, meanwhile, look strong as ever at the back, and will likely be in the conversation for the title once their injury problems in the forward areas have abated.

 

 

See all the match stats here.