AC Milan coach Paulo Fonseca's team managed to keep the three points at home in an exciting match against Udinese. The Italian club beat Udinese 1-0 on Saturday, despite having to play with ten men for more than an hour. With this victory, the seven-time European champion is now two points behind leader Napoli in Serie A.
The only goal of the match was scored early on by Samuel Chukwueze in the 13th minute. What looked like the start of a comfortable win ultimately proved to be the decisive goal as Milan managed to hold firm against the pressing Udinese. The task became considerably tougher when Oranje international Tijjani Reijnders was shown red in the 29th minute after an unfortunate foul on Sandi Lovric, who was about to get free in front of goal. Reijnders accidentally stepped on his heels, which sent him off the field immediately.
Golden opportunity
A golden opportunity to decide the match early came for substitute Tammy Abraham, who replaced Alvaro Morata. With 15 minutes to play, however, Abraham failed at a prime opportunity after a rebound and also injured his shoulder in the process.
Almost the 1-1
Tension ran high when Udinese thought to equalize through Christian Kabasele in the fifth minute of injury time. The visitors were already celebrating, but their joy was abruptly interrupted when, after a lengthy VAR check, the goal was disallowed for narrowly offside by Jurgen Ekkelenkamp.