After about sixty minutes, an entertaining nil-nil draw becomes frustrating. Purely coincidentally, of course, that's about when AC Milan boss Massimo Allegri decided to play for a point rather than all three against Juventus, pulling off forward Antonio Cassano for defensively-minded Urby Emanuelson. The injury-forced change of Alessandro Nesta for Luca Antonini didn't help matters, but Allegri probably should have thought twice before replacing Antonio Nocerino with Massimo Ambrosini, particularly with Alberto Aquilani on the bench. It's little wonder, then, that Juventus found two goals in the last five minutes of the match.
Juventus Vs. AC Milan: A Late Brace From Claudio Marchisio Keeps Juve Top Of The Table
The bianconeri had been the better team for most of the match, with Milan barely threatening the Juve goal. But the home side just couldn't get it together in front of goal, with Mirko Vucinic's shots often going just inches wide (to say nothing of Arturo Vidal's rockets into orbit. Dude needs a Xanax prescription, like, now). Just when it looked as though the Old Lady were experiencing one of their cursed-on-goal days, Claudio Marchisio broke the deadlock. His double back and forth with both Vučinić and Vidal was pretty sexy, although the resulting goal appeared to be almost accidental, as Vučinić's pass more or less rebounded off Marchisio's shin and into the back of the net.
Rather than reacting in a manner befitting of a scudetto-seeking club, moments after the goal, Kevin-Prince Boateng took out Giorgio Chiellini, and was rewarded with a red card for his troubles. The Prince, who many thought would be kept out of the lineup due to an injury suffered in warmups, hadn't looked good all night -- yet another head-scratcher from Allegri, who appears utterly befuddled as to how to play with this team with so many injuries. Perhaps Milan lead themselves to the title last season?
Whatever it was, the rossoneri certainly didn't look like a team set to rise to the top of the table. Instead of a Milan equalizer, it was Marchisio scoring again again, helped along by a Christian Abbiati howler. The Juventus midfielder sent in a shot from distance, and it appeared as though Abbiati would easily gather the ball. Instead he fumbled, allowing it to roll between his legs and into the back of the net. Whoopsie,
And so Juventus continue to stay top of the table, joint with Udinese. Milan, meanwhile, are in 15th, but can take some comfort in the fact that Inter Milan are below them in 17th. Unfortunately, that's not the kind of comfort that will keep Max Allegri warm at night.
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