|
Massimo Oddo earns a draw against his old club Lazio, as Milan are held at San Siro and lose Clarence Seedorf to injury.
The Rossoneri rested several stars in preparation for the Arsenal clash, giving Clarence Seedorf the opportunity to play as a Trequartista. The midweek 1-1 at Catania lost them fourth place, so a win was needed and they hoped for a repeat of the 5-1 thrashing of Lazio in October. The Biancocelesti were struggling to avoid the relegation zone, but Delio Rossi fielded a surprise trident attack system.
Lazio have not won here in Serie A since September 3, 1989 - the day after Alexandre Pato was born. 'The Duck' had the first chance comfortably blocked by Marco Ballotta, while at the other end Kakha Kaladze did just enough to put off Lorenzo De Silvestri.
Rolando Bianchi infuriated his teammates when he went for glory with a weak strike when Goran Pandev and Tommaso Rocchi were getting into promising positions.
Pato scored a splendid long-range effort against Catania on Wednesday and attempted a similar strike, but this time Ballotta was ready for it. It was a rare spark in a sluggish first half from both sides.
There was bad news for the Rossoneri as Seedorf limped off with a thigh problem and had to make way for Alberto Paloschi in a new 4-3-3 system. This puts the Dutchman - who had already been struggling with injury - in real doubt for the Champions League decider with Arsenal.
Ballotta plucked a header from Paloschi out of the air, as the 43-year-old goalkeeper suddenly found himself facing two 18-year-old strikers.
For the second half Carlo Ancelotti completed his substitutions with Massimo Ambrosini and Digao - Kaka's younger brother - coming on. Rocchi got in front of Kaladze to turn a Pandev cross wide of the near post.
Rocchi went closer than anyone so far at San Siro with a cracking shot from the edge of the box, but Zeljko Kalac used one strong arm to knock it out for a corner. From the resulting set-piece the Australian goalkeeper again did well to capture Rocchi's header.
It was increasingly busy in the Milan box, moments later Pandev at full stretch on the ground to fingertip a Pandev turn round the base of the post.
Lazio made the pressure count by taking the lead on 54 minutes. Once again Rocchi was involved, flicking an Ousmane Dabo pass through two defenders into the path of Bianchi who anticipated Massimo Oddo at full stretch. It was the former Manchester City man's first goal from open play in a Biancocelesti jersey.
Milan fought back with Yoann Gourcuff's cross volleyed into the ground and wide by Pato.
The referee pointed to the spot as Valon Behrami hauled Kaladze to the ground when a corner was whipped in. Former Lazio captain Oddo took penalty-taking duties in the absence of Kaka and, although his old teammate Ballotta got the right corner, beat him at the near post.
The tide of the match had changed and Gaby Mudingayi's perfectly timed tackle stopped short a Pato slalom, then Paloschi dispossessed Emilson Cribari at the byeline and Mudingayi again cleared the danger from Gilardino.
Lazio covered up with midfielder Christian Manfredini for Bianchi, but Milan kept pushing as an odd acrobatic Ambrosini attempt was off target. The Rossoneri were furious when Pato skipped past defenders and was clear on goal, but the referee halted play because he was still noting down a booking for Mudingayi.
Gourcuff got a lucky ricochet and fired a powerful but central strike from the edge of the area. Teenager Paloschi did brilliantly to turn Sebastiano Siviglia, but Cristian Ledesma came sliding in to block the shot.
Pato looked ready to run the entire length of the field as he intercepted a Lazio corner and had gone past several players before De Silvestri felled the Brazilian with a horribly cynical tackle. A red card was inevitable, as he showed no interest in getting the ball.
Gourcuff had an audacious strike from all of 35 metres that Ballotta smothered with some difficulty. In the third minute of stoppages Gilardino nodded a corner kick off target at the back post.
| 
