Milan broke the winning circuit
During the trip on the evening of March 4, Milan was absent for four players. Two of them, Rafael Leao and Rade Krunic have to rest due to suspension. Brahim Diaz is recovering from a minor knee injury, while Matteo Gabbia has the flu.
Fiorentina started better than Milan. Giacomo Bonaventura and Nico Gonzalez soon hit three shots towards goal keeper Mike Maignan. The home team also had seven corners in the first 20 minutes.
The match was paused at 13 minutes for spectators and members of both teams to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the death of Davide Astori, the former Fiorentina captain who died in his sleep from undiagnosed heart disease. Current Milan coach Stefano Pioli was Fiorentina's coach at the time.
Milan played better from the end of the first half. However, Olivier Giroud and Ante Rebic both lost to goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano. Junior Messias missed a header after a pass from Charles De Ketelaere.
Like the first half, Fiorentina started strong after coming back from the dressing room. The home team only needed to play four more minutes to open the scoring. Jonathan Ikone breaks into the box, forcing Tomori into a foul that leads to a penalty. Then, Nico Gonzalez tricked goalkeeper Maignan on the 11m mark.
Milan determined to respond after the first goal, but failed. Goalkeeper Terracciano turned into Fiorentina's hero when he neutralized Rebic's header and blocked Theo Hernandez's shot with his stomach. The referee pointed to the penalty spot in the 79th minute, when he thought the ball had touched Arthur Cabral's hand in a Milan corner, but VAR quickly showed it was a valid header.
In the 87th minute, Milan had to concede the second goal. Six minutes into the field, former Real striker Luka Jovic headed into the far corner of the visitors' goal.
The second goal made Milan's remaining efforts too late. The defending champion only managed to remove one goal thanks to Theo Hernandez's high corner in the 90+5 minute.
The loss to Fiorentina caused Milan to break a four-match winning streak in all competitions. Previously, from February 10, coach Pioli's team won Torino 1-0, Monza 1-0, Atalanta 2-0 in Serie A and Tottenham 1-0 in the first leg of the 1/8 Champions League round.
In the 25th round of Serie A, the top team Napoli also broke the winning circuit. Luciano Spalletti's teachers and students lost 0-1 to Lazio at home. Matias Vecino scored the only goal in the 67th minute. After a surprise victory, Lazio jumped from fourth to second, having 48 points from 25 games, 17 points behind Napoli.
Before that, Napoli had won eight consecutive matches in Serie A. They also had a 2-0 win at Frankfurt in the first leg of the 1/8 Champions League round of 16, besides a 4-5 penalty shootout defeat to Cremonese in Round of 1/8 National Cup.
Meanwhile, Milan is still fourth in Serie A with 47 points. If they beat Juventus in the late match in round 25, Roma will take Milan's place by difference. Inter will be second with 50 points, if they win Lecce on the evening of March 5. Fiorentina is currently ranked 12th with 31 points.
