The victories of Napoli and Atalanta in the early matches of round 35 further pressured the confrontation between Juventus and AC Milan. With just a draw, Juventus can maintain 4th place in the rankings.
Entering the match, Juventus welcomed back Federico Chiesa, who has missed the last 3 matches due to injury. Coach Pirlo still believes in the familiar 4-4-2 formation with two center forward teams, Ronaldo and Morata.
The match was very tense as both Juventus and AC Milan clearly showed their determination to win. Juventus pushed up their attack formation right after the opening whistle. In the first half, Juventus was the team with the better percentage. However, the Old lady lacked ideas in the situations on the ball. Due to Cris Ronaldo being blocked, the home team could not create great pressure on AC Milan's goal. Even in that situation, the Rossoneri were the team that created more chances.
It seemed that the first half would end with a score of 0-0, but AC Milan unexpectedly took the lead in the extra minutes. Taking advantage of goalkeeper Szczesny's run out of the goal, Diaz dribbled past Cuadrado before finishing carelessly to open the score for the away team.
This goal forced Juventus to speed up the match when entering the second half. But the opportunities kept passing in front of Ronaldo and Morata.
In an attacking position, Juventus left many gaps in their home field for AC Milan to play counter-attack. In the 58th minute, center back Chiellini let the ball touch his hand in the penalty area while trying to block Brahim Diaz's shot. After consulting VAR, the referee awarded Milan a penalty. Fortunately for Juventus, on the 11m mark, midfielder Franck Kessie could not beat goalkeeper Szczesny.
After escaping the second goal, Juventus was forced to send Kulusevski onto the field to strengthen the attack. But this change did not make a big difference. With a defensive - counter-attacking strategy, AC Milan played very effectively. In the 78th minute, Ante Rebic shot beautifully from a distance to increase the score to 2-0 for Rossoneri.
The decision to put Dybala on the field at the end of the match was not enough for Juventus to create a comeback. Worse, just 4 minutes later, from Calhanoglu's free kick, center back Fikayo Tomori headed the ball to increase the score to 3-0 for AC Milan. This is the end for Pirlo and his team.
The resounding 0-3 defeat to AC Milan caused Juventus to fall to 5th place in the rankings. The risk of not being able to participate in the Champions League has been clearly shown in the eyes of Pirlo and his team. It is even more difficult for the old lady when in the last 3 rounds, they have 2 matches that are predicted to be difficult with Sassuolo and Inter Milan. Meanwhile, this victory helped AC Milan rise to 3rd place in the Serie A rankings with 72 points, equal to the 2nd place team Atalanta.
