AC Milan vs. Palermo: Score, Grades and Reaction from Serie A Game

A subdued, uninspired AC Milan side were deservedly beaten 2-0 by struggling Palermo at the San Siro on Sunday evening.

In a game anticipated to be rather one-sided—AC Milan had been the top goalscorers in Serie A going into this weekend, while Palermo possess one of the most porous defences—it was the visitors who deservedly claimed the three points, thanks to a first-half own goal from substitute Cristian Zapata and a fine follow-up two minutes later from striker Paulo Dybala.

Milan dominated possession in the second half but struggled horribly to turn that into clear-cut chances, with the home side managing just three shots on target during the course of the match. Palermo were asked to defend for large parts of the second period but never really looked likely to concede a goal, as Pippo Inzaghi’s side were duly condemned to an embarrassing and disappointing defeat—even if it was only their second of the season.

Victory moves Palermo up to 13th in the table on 12 points. Milan are four points better off, still in seventh position after 10 games of the season.

Afterwards, Inzaghi told Sky Sports Italia (via Football Italia):

"

This is football. 

I said yesterday that Palermo were tough, having done very well at Napoli. We hadn’t started that badly with Poli and Torres close, so if those chances had gone in it would’ve been a different game, but Palermo broke the deadlock and deserved the victory. We tip our hat to them.

Nights like this can also help you grow. I take responsibility and from tomorrow we must roll our sleeves up. We can’t wait to get back on the field against Sampdoria to make up for this performance.

"

Inzaghi’s night got off to a difficult start and did not get much better from there. The head coach was forced into a substitution after just three minutes, as central defender Alex proved unable to overcome an injury problem in the very first moments of the match.

Franco Vazquez had already taken advantage of the Brazilian’s mobility problems to nip in ahead of him and sting Diego Lopez’s palms with a left-footed shot, with Inzaghi immediately bringing on Zapata to restore the back line.

Unfortunately for the Colombian and his manager, it was he who would break the deadlock, although not at the end he would have hoped. Another enforced save from Diego Lopez, this time to deny Achraf Lazaar, gave Palermo a corner kick after 23 minutes, and Zapata got his bearings all wrong as he diverted the in-swinging delivery beyond his goalkeeper and inside the near post.

Two minutes later, Palermo doubled their advantage. This time it was Dybala who beat Lopez, showing Vazquez—whose early chance was remarkably similar—exactly how it should be done, as he waltzed past the unfortunate Zapata before clipping his shot past Lopez and inside his far post.

Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images

From that point on, Palermo were already in a certain amount of control, and they continued to pepper Lopez’s goal with shots up until the half-time break. Unfortunately, not many of them were on target; Vazquez and Edgar Barreto both proved a little off in their aiming as Lopez prevented Dybala from getting his second of the game.

A change was clearly needed for Milan to get back into the contest, and so during the break, Inzaghi introduced Stephan El Shaarawy for Andrea Poli. The move immediately changed the flow of the contest, although it was hard to tell whether or not that was also a result of Palermo making a half-time decision to come out more cautiously, to focus on protecting what they already had.

Suddenly, Milan began to dominate possession and territory, although turning that into something more tangible proved elusive. El Shaarawy was reduced to harmless shots from long range as he attempted to drag his side back into the game, although he would have perhaps done a lot better with some of the chances Fernando Torres was presented with.

One in particular stood out—the Spaniard getting his header all wrong as Jeremy Menez’s in-swinging cross gave him a perfect chance to halve the deficit.

As that chance slipped away, so too seemed Milan’s hopes of getting something from the game. Palermo sat even deeper and restricted themselves to only hitting their opponents on the counter-attack. As a tactic it was successful in taking the sting out of the game, removing any hope Milan had of a late flurry.

For Palermo, the victory was a much-needed morale boost at an important stage of the season. For Milan, the defeat created new questions about the true strength and consistency of Inzaghi’s revamped side, and their long-term ability to contend with their rivals for European qualification this season.

Antonio Calanni/Associated Press

Player Ratings

Player	Rating
Diego Lopez	7
Ignazio Abate	6
Alex	n/a
Adil Rami	6
Mattia de Sciglio	7
Andrea Poli	5
Nigel de Jong	6
Riccardo Saponara	5
Keisuke Honda	5
Jeremy Menez	5
Fernando Torres	5
Substitutions
Cristian Zapata	6
Stephan El Shaarawy	7
Giampaolo Pazzini	6

Player	Rating
Stefano Sorrentino	6
Ezequiel Munoz	6
Giancarlo Gonzalez	6
Sinisa Andelkovic	6
Michel Morganella	7
Francesco Bolzoni	7
Enzo Maresca	6
Edgar Barreto	8
Achraf Lazaar	7
Paulo Dybala	8
Franco Vazquez	7
Substitutions
Granddi Ngoyi	6
Andrea Belotti	6
Robin Quaison	n/a

What's Next?

AC Milan visit Sampdoria next Saturday in Serie A, with Palermo hosting Udinese a day later.