From hell to heaven.
It is the route taken from Milan to Udine.
A few minutes from the end he seemed on the ropes, unable to find space to recover an almost compromised match.
Then Giroud took over and with two shots as a true attacker allowed Jovic and Okafor to first find the equalizer and then overtake.
Udinese have lost 12 points from the 80th minute onwards in 6 of their last 7 home games.
After the long unsuccessful courtship of Napoli, Cioffi relaunched Samardzic from the first minute, to the detriment of Payero, who was still not at 100% due to the muscle injury.
For the rest, a consolidated formation, with Lucca as the only offensive terminal supported by captain Pereyra.
Pioli responds with the team that crushed Roma, with Adli as director and Leao and Pulisic in support of striker Giroud.
The guests are in control of the match and in the 16th minute they have their first big chance: Leao finds an opening and puts Giroud in front of Okoye, who puts it in the corner with a feat.
Udinese relies on Lucca to help the team recover and in the 24th minute manages to put Milan's defense into crisis but the striker doesn't arrive for a fraction of a second.
Meanwhile Maignan draws Maresca's attention for some suspicious chants received from the north curve, positioned a few steps away from him and the stadium speaker warns about the risk of suspension of the match.
The match heats up and in the 31st minute Milan finds the opening goal: Theo Hernandez accelerates on the left and serves it backwards for the onrushing Loftus -Cheek who shoots into the corner.
There wasn't even time to celebrate when Maresca interrupted the game after further racist boos directed at the Rossoneri goalkeeper: all of Milan rose up and his teammates, in solidarity, left the pitch and returned to the changing rooms.
Frantic minutes followed in which the Udinese players and the director of the technical area went under the north curve to try to identify those responsible for the racist chants, asking the rest of the ultras to suspend any manifestation of intolerance.
The game was stopped for about 5 minutes until, after a long meeting with the teams and the police, Maresca blew the whistle for the restart.
Only 3' pass and Samardzic equalises: the Serbian talent is served by Lucca and unleashes a slingshot that knocks out a motionless Maignan.
Cioffi leaves the injured Pereyra in the locker room and puts Thauvin close to Lucca.
It is the world champion with France in 2018 who gives Udinese the lead.
It's the 18th when the playmaker recovers the ball in the penalty area following defensive naivety and fires a left-footed shot that incinerates Maignan.
Visiting goalkeeper who moments earlier had been superb in blocking with his foot an undersized shot from Thauvin himself.
Pioli enriches his battery of attackers with Okafor in place of Rejnders, but the hosts open up opportunities on the counterattack: Kamara is stopped in a desperate exit by Maignan ten meters outside the area, while a unleashed Thauvin fails to find Lucca for a fraction of second, after sowing panic on the left.
Milan seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown as they see the match slip out of their hands and changes again: Calabria and Pulisic out and Florenzi and Jovic in the mix.
Full four-wheel drive.
And a winning move: the fruits were seen first in the 38th minute when it was Jovic who scored the tap-in on the goal line after the ball kicked by Giroud had landed on the crossbar. And Okafor, in full recovery, gave away three fundamental points.
MATCH REPORT
90+3' GOAL by Okafor - Udinese-MILAN: 2-3
83' GOAL by Jovic - Udinese-MILAN: 2-2
62' GOAL - GOAL by Thauvin - UDINESE-Milan: 2-1
42' GOAL by Samardzic UDINESE-Milan: 1-1
31' GOAL by Loftus Cheek - Udinese-MILAN: 0-1
Choirs against Maignan, Maresca interrupts the match.
Then the game resumes
Referee Maresca interrupted Udinese-Milan in the 33rd minute of the first half due to boos and racist insults directed at Maignan by the crowd behind the goal defended by the AC Milan goalkeeper.
After the speaker's announcement the match resumed, with the score at 1-0 for Milan.
A few minutes before the interruption, referee Maresca, at Maignan's request, had an announcement broadcast over the stadium speakers, warning that the match would be suspended if racist chants were heard denounced by the visitors' goalkeeper.
After the opening goal, Maignan reached the midfield and asked the referee to interrupt the match due to more racist chants.
The match was then suspended for a few minutes and the Milan players returned to the changing rooms in solidarity.
The Udinese players and the director of the technical area Balzaretti went under the curve to stop the chants.
The match resumed after a few minutes with Udinese immediately equalising.
"There is no place for racism in football - declares the President of the FIGC Gabriele Gravina -, we stand in solidarity with Maignan and strongly condemn what happened in Udine. The referee did well to suspend the match, we don't necessarily have to play when these shameful behaviors happen."
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