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AC Milan have not had the best week, with results in Serie A seeing them fall further behind in the title race.
One point from a possible six against Spezia and Juventus have left Stefano Pioli’s men four points adrift of rivals Inter Milan who have played a game less.
Of course, the gap is not insurmountable and outstanding games are not assured three points, but Pioli’s disappointment was palpable following Sunday’s goalless draw with the Old Lady.
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While a stalemate with Juve is not particularly a bad thing, the shock 2-1 defeat by Spezia increased the pressure on Milan to claim maximum points against Massimiliano Allegri’s men.
Losing to the Aquilotti, who began the gameweek just outside the drop zone, was dispiriting, although the circumstances of the visitors’ turnaround rankled.
Rafael Leao put the giants into a deserved lead before half-time and, while a Kevin Agudelo equaliser after the hour was far from ideal, a costly refereeing error thwarted what could have been a late Milan winner before Spezia’s sucker punch strike.
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Having dominated Thiago Motta’s team days back, they did not show enough against Allegri’s side to even deserve three points in a humdrum 90 minutes at San Siro.
Milan won the Expected Goals (xG) battle 0.7-0.4, yet those figures emphasise the absence of quality chances throughout the game. The home side accrued that xG from 14 shots, while Juventus’ came following eight attempts, adding even greater context to how many were low-percentage efforts.
A frustrated Pioli feels they risk falling away in the Scudetto race just as they did in 2020/21 following a bright first half of the campaign.
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“We knew the games against Juventus and Inter would say a great deal about our future,” the Milan boss told DAZN after Sunday’s stalemate. “If we don’t beat Inter, then our campaign will be very similar to last season when we won at the end to go second and risked crashing out of the Champions League places,” warned Pioli.
“We lacked precision in the penalty area. I don’t think it was a tactical issue, as we had players in the box, but got the final ball wrong.”
Unsurprisingly, the Rossoneri trainer conceded the Spezia loss was more damaging.
“Our glass is half-empty because of the Spezia result, not this one,” the 56-year-old said. “If we’d won that, tonight’s result would’ve been very different.”
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Having won three successive games, failure to pick significant points on their turf has increased the significance of the Derby della Madonnina to be held in early February. Defeat by Simone Inzaghi’s team would leave Milan trailing the Nerazzurri by seven points, with Inter to face an out-of-form Bologna side in a rescheduled fixture.
Pioli’s team could have gone top of the standings had they defeated Spezia last week. Now, following two bad results, the Serie A contenders suddenly face the possibility of falling even further adrift of their local rivals.
No wonder the Milan manager is ringing the alarm bells.