AC Milan were forced to drop points against a resilient Empoli side.
AC Milan gave it everything, especially late in the game, but Tyrone Ebuehi and his teammates stood strong, holding the defending champions to a draw.
AC Milan hosted Empoli as they looked to continue to finish the season as high as possible. However, their visitors proved to also have ambitions of their own, as they shut Milan out for shared spoils.
How it happened
AC Milan were coming off a romp against runaway league leaders Napoli, in which they beat I Partenopei 4-0.
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They were expected to build on that in this tie against Empoli as they prepare for the midweek Champions League clash against Napoli, but that inconsistency that have plagued Milan all season reared its head again.
Milan, in all fairness to them, started strongly, creating an ample amount of goal-scoring opportunities early in the game, but profligacy, coupled with resolute defending by the Gli Azzurri.
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The first-half ended barren, with Milan's effort frustrated, and Empoli struggling to string together any coherent offensive transitions.
The second-half took the same theme as the first, but Milan thought they had finally found a chink in Empoli's armour when they had a penalty review; upon inspection, the VAR ruled it out.
Pioli started to bring on the big guns who he rested with the midweek game against Napoli in mind, with Brahim Diaz, Florenzi, Olivier Giroud, and Rafael Leao all coming on between the 60th and 70th minute.
The additions gave Milan more jaw strength, but they still failed to take a pound of flesh for all their barking.
They did think they grabbed a breakthrough late in the game when two substitutes, Florenzi and Giroud combined, but the goal was ruled out and the France international was found to have handled the ball while attempting to turn it in.
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The game ended in a draw, and Milan will now look ahead to playing Napoli in the Champions League this midweek.
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