| An early Pippo Inzaghi goal gave Milan the points, but this performance will have done nothing for their confidence. This was their first top flight meeting at the San Siro in 14 years and a crossroads for the Rossoneri, who had fallen 12 points adrift of leaders Juventus at the weekend following a 1-0 loss at Roma. Ascoli held Milan to a 1-1 draw in the season opener and hoped to repeat that shock result.
Pippo Inzaghi was given a rare start and wasted a glorious opportunity after just three minutes, firing over after a defensive error.
He made up for his error 60 seconds later, however, as the striker gathered a Dida clearance, ran all the way from the half-way line and tricked Daniele Adani before sliding an angled drive in at the near post.
There was bad news for the Rossoneri, who lost Massimo Ambrosini to injury and replaced him with Gennaro Gattuso. Andrea Pirlo's long-range attempt skimmed the crossbar and an ambitious Alberto Gilardino flick was wide.
Milan struggled to create chances against an organised Ascoli side, but they nearly doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time. Clarence Seedorf's chipped cross found Inzaghi's diving header from eight yards and Coppola did well to push it off target.
The home side had a promising opportunity straight after the restart with Gilardino's acrobatic volley smothered by Coppola.
Carlo Ancelotti's men were disappointing and booed by the San Siro crowd, so Kaka was introduced to bring some more creativity and pace to the side.
Foggia's effort was not far off the woodwork and a fine team move between Rui Costa and Kaka was wasted by a scuffed Inzaghi finish from close range.
Rui Costa also scuffed his shot from a promising position and Quagliarella's counter-attack was smothered by Dida.
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