AC Milan’s top four hopes were dealt another huge blow on Saturday evening as they were beaten 2-1 by Torino at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino.
The tone for the evening was in many ways set by the horror own goal a few minutes in, when Mike Maignan kicked a clearance straight into Malick Thiaw and it rebounded into an empty net.
Tijjani Reijnders did bring Milan level in the second half with a rocket of a shot, and yet Torino restored their advantage on their next attack with Gineitis scoring.
Given that Lazio and Bologna had dropped points in the build-up to the game, it was yet another missed opportunity for the Rossoneri to gain ground, and they are fast running out of runway.
Sergio Conceicao made just the one change from the team that drew with Feyenoord and exited the Champions League on Tuesday night, with Alex Jimenez coming in at right-back for the injured Kyle Walker.
There was a moment of confusion just a couple of minutes in when Mike Maignan went to claim a cross but dropped the ball and was crashed into by Sanabria. The loose ball turned into a rebound attempt that was blocked on the line near enough, until the referee finally blew his whistle for a foul on the goalkeeper.
In the fifth minute Torino took the lead, and the way the goal went in was somewhere between comical and embarrassing. As Maignan rushed out to clear a long ball over the top, he succeeded only in hammering it at Malick Thiaw and into the back of the net.
Milan recovered quite well after the early setback and begun the missing of drawing level, which Santiago Gimenez came close to doing in the 20th minute having been found in behind. Milinkovic-Savic in the Torino goal did well to punch his rising shot away.
Gimenez was again on the end of service from the right side when Christian Pulisic whipped in a low cross towards the striker, who could only glance it wide of the far post.
On the half-hour mark a big turning point arrived as Milan were awarded a penalty. A deep cross to the far post was headed by Rafael Leao directly onto the arm of Pedersen which was inexplicably up in the air. Pulisic took on the responsibility from 12 yards, but his shot towards the bottom left corner was brilliantly saved by Milinkovic-Savic to keep Torino in the lead.
Maignan went some way towards beginning to atone for his earlier error when he made a good save to deny Pedersen’s shot from inside the box after a corner had fallen to the full-back. Moments later, he produced a strong hand to stop a Vlasic effort that was destined for the top corner.
Conceicao chose to ake a rather interesting change at the break as Leao was withdrawn and Youssouf Fofana came on in his place, with Yunus Musah then moving to the right side from his original position in the double pivot and Christian Pulisic to the left.
Milan hadn’t even registered a proper attack in the opening eight minutes of the second half before the coach made another change, with Musah making way and Tammy Abraham coming on to partner Gimenez up front.
Milinkovic-Savic was finally called into action when Fofana wound up a first-time curling shot from around 20 yards out that was bending towards the far corner but was parried away to safety.
A couple of minutes later, Reijnders shanked an attempt into the Frenchman’s path, but his redirection towards goal was too weak to trouble to Torino goalkeeper.
The Serbian continued to be busy as Milan got closer to an equalising goal, firstly stopping a curler from Joao Felix that was going into the postage stamp, then sticking out a leg to deny Reijnders after the Dutchman let fly from the edge of the box. Not long after those two chances, Alex Jimenez lashed a first-time shot narrowly wide.
With 20 minutes left on the clock Conceicao tweaked the attack again, with Felix making way for Riccardo Sottil.
When it looked like it might not be Milan’s night, they equalised in the 74th minute through Reijnders. It was a lovely move too, with the ball worked down the left flank and cut back to Sottil who laid it off to the Dutchman and the finish was applied.
Remarkably, parity would not last for very long as Torino got themselves pretty much straight back in front. Sanabria took a free-kick quickly which caught Milan’s defence sleeping and allowed Gineitis to hammer a low shot across goal and into the bottom corner.
The final couple of rolls of the dice from Conceicao came in the closing stages with Francesco Camarda and Samuel Chukwueze entering for Gimenez and Jimenez.
