(Football news) Goals from Rafael Leao and Davide Calabria in the second half helped champions AC Milan to fight back down from two goals and salvage an important 2-2 draw at Lecce on Saturday. Lecce shocked their opponents when they took the lead after three minutes, with Theo Hernandez scoring an own goal following a blunder from Pierre Kalulu. Lecce could have doubled their lead when Valentin Gendrey floated a cross to an unmarked Federico Di Francesco but he fired the ball outside the post.
The hosts made it 2-0 in the 23rd minute after Hjulmand sent a cross into the box as the defender Federico Baschirotto headed it into the right corner. Lecce again came close to scoring another goal when Gendrey latched on to a Di Francesco pass. The Rossenari after the break picked up the pace as top scorer Leao scored from a rebound of Falcone and fired it into the net. A header from Calabria made it 2-2 in the 70th minute as the result left Milan second in the standings with 38 points after 18 games which is subsequently one point ahead of Juventus and nine behind Napoli.
“In the first half, we got everything wrong that it was possible to get wrong. We made entirely avoidable errors and it was an uphill struggle from there,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli told DAZN.
“I expected a different start to the game, considering we were coming off some disappointing results. We should’ve had the quality and sharpness to control the situation better, which is what we did in the second half,” Pioli said. “We reacted well and could’ve won it in the end, but we must do much better.”
Inter Milan secured an important 1-0 home win over Hellas Verona thanks to a goal from striker Lautaro Martinez. It took just three minutes for Martinez to open the scoring when he picked up a loose ball inside the box and fired it into the left corner for his ninth Serie A goal of the season. Martinez then thought he had scored again in the 63rd minute when he chipped the ball over keeper Lorenzo Montipo but the goal was disallowed for a foul earlier in the attack on Pawel Dawidowicz
Kristjan Asllani came close to scoring a second goal for Inter but his shot from outside the box curled beyond the post. Verona tried to put some pressure on Inter as they desperately searched for an equaliser but they failed to create any chances. With this result Inter are level on 37 points with third-placed Juventus and are 10 points behind leaders Napoli after 18 games. Verona are second last in the Serie A standings with nine points and subsequently six points adrift of the safety zone.
“We scored early and then despite a little tension in the closing stages, we remained solid and focused without suffering much against a Verona side that could cause us problems,” Inter coach Simone Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.
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