Juventus Vs. AC Milan, Halftime: Rossoneri Possession, Juventus Counters, Van Bommel Fouls See Sides Into Half 0-0

Gianluigi Buffon and Christian Abbiati had quiet first halves in Turin, with neither goalkeeper being meaningfully stressed before Juventus and AC Milan went into intermission scoreless. Milan looks the slightly better side, creating the best chance of the half thanks to the pressure they were able to exert in the Juve half, but the Old Lady’s ability to get out on the counter has shown a sign of life, with one Milan midfielder’s propensity to foul making it questionable whether he will be able to finish the match.

A packed crowd at the Stadio Olimpico sang from the opening kick-off, using to occasion as reason to overlook their club’s recent form. Early, Felipe Melo rewarded their enthusiasm, his newly bald head seen streaking through midfield, ball at his feet, converting an early turnover into a 24-yard, wayward shot. Moments later, Milan nearly silenced the crowd, a ball played in from the left to the far post, Zlatan Ibrahimovic disturbed by Armand Traoré just enough to send the ball over the bar. The scare, however, drained some of the energy out of the match, with the sides quickly settling in.

The calming of the match highlighted the role of Milos Krasic. In the early moments, when all players were running off their nerves, the pitch had a number of Krasics, but one players regained their heads, Krasic’s pace and range caused Milan problems. Showing an early willingness to play as far in as the left post, Krasic drew early fouls from Alessandro Nesta and Mark van Bommel as the Serbian brought the ball into the final third. Mathieu Flamini was also see shadowing Juve’s dangerman.

Around the 10th minute, Juventus’s early advantages started to fade, with Milan slowly able to accumulate more possession. The whistles from the crowd betrayed a growing uncertainty as Juve started surrendering their first corners, Milan’s first crosses of the half. But in the 17th minute, Juventus illustrated one drawback to Milan’s ascendancy, with Jorge Martínez springing a counter attack that saw too much room for Krasic on the right, Toni given a good (if unfinished) cross at the far post.

The match’s first real chance came in the 22nd minute, a result to Milan’s continued ascendancy. A ball played in from the right by Ignazio Abate was headed clear by Frederik Sorenson. Marek Jankulovski picked up the ball, carried it toward the Juve box before being taken down. Nicolas Rizzoli played advantage, allowing the ball to roll to the Antonio Cassano in the right side of the box. The Milan attacker dribbled around an oncoming Giorgio Chiellini for an open shot on Gianluigi Buffon’s goal, an attempt that he put over the ball.

In the 27th minute, another Krasic counter attack created Juventus’s first crowd-enticing danger moment, the Serbian carrying the ball through the middle third before laying-off to the right for Alessandro Matri, who was one-on-one with Thiago Silva. Exhibiting his continued emergence as one of the league’s defenders, Silva did not have have to wait for help before undoing Juventus’s attack, keeping Juve from meaningfully testing Christian Abbiati.

By the half hour mark, Juventus was having trouble carrying the ball out of their own half, the combination of Milan pressure plus more conscientious play by the Rossoneri when on the ball leaving the Old Lady starving for opportunities. When they were able to flash into attack, their build-up was lacking a hold-up man, with neither Luca Toni nor Matri helping the home side set-up an attack.

Despite the lack of help from their forwards, Juventus was still able to break-up Milan’s possession with an occasional scare, with Mark van Bommel continuously stressed to destroy attacks at the edge of the final third. As is custom with van Bommel, this involved fouling, and after his fifth infraction, van Bommel was shown yellow by Rizzoli.