Banti was the most interesting person on the pitch in the early minutes in Sunday's match at the San Siro between AC Milan and Fiorentina. Viola was somewhat in control of the first 25 minutes causing Milan to concede 6 fouls. One of those fouls caused Alonso to bleed from a small cut. Muntari committed two fouls going for the leg twice and completely ignoring the ball and the yellow cards score was yet 0-0.
Fiorentina conceded Milan's only goal in the match from a far post targeted corner kick. Zapata jumped higher than everyone to head the ball to set up De Jong's header into the goal. Fiorentina took control again and Cuadrado was booked for a foul in Fiorentina's attacking third just minutes before half time.
The second half started with Milan attempting to add one more goal to their lead but failed with three shots off target. Montella has obviously told his players to stop trying to infiltrate through the middle of Milan's defense. Also Pizarro's absence reduced Fiorentina's long passes to the wide wingers' threat tremendously. Kurtic attempted a long shot before the end of the first half that opened purple eyes to the ugly truth; the only way to score with this below average passing accuracy is to strike Abbiate from afar.
Ilicic was brought in for Kurtic before the hour mark right after Fiorentina scared the Milan faithful with two as good as goals attempts from outside the box by Aquilani and Fernandez. Those chances were followed by a mistake from Milan that left Ilicic running at the defenders with no pressure from the midfield. The defenders were thankfully tracking back worrying about target man Babacar, Fernandez on the right, Valero from the left and Cuadrado who was charging to provide more options for Ilicic. The latter stuck to the plan and sent a bouncy ball with his left foot in the back of the net beating Abbiati and leveling the score.
Montella made two more changes with fifteen minutes to the end; Vargas for Fernandez and Badelj for Babacar. The tempo of the match increased as both teams were trying to sneak a goal from a counter attack but no real risks were taken in order to keep defenses intact thus keeping the score as it is for the remainder of the match.
Gonzalo was booked for a foul during a dangerous Milan counter near the match end and so he will miss mid-week match against Udinese. Fiorentina must win this upcoming match in order to reduce the six points difference to third place in Serie A table. Udinese is currently in third with 16 points.