Italian side Milan booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday with a hard-fought 0-0 draw against English side Tottenham in London, making good on a 1-0 first-leg win at the San Siro.
The Italian side, who were able to defend the short one-goal lead achieved at the Italian stadium thanks to an early goal from Malaga’s Brahim Díaz, controlled a duel in which the ‘rossoneri’ did not suffer too much and in which they had the best chances to return to the quarter-finals of the competition 11 years after losing to FC Barcelona.
The Serie A champion, who came into the match after losing the previous league match against Fiorentina (2-1), deepened the bad form of Spurs, who added their third consecutive defeat in all competitions after the two defeats against Sheffield United, in the FA Cup, and Wolwerhampton, in the Premier League.
At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London traffic prevented AC Milan from arriving on time for a match that had to start ten minutes late. The Italian side took the field with clear ideas, deactivating the home side’s game plan at times. Even so, the passing of the minutes ended up equalizing a match that found no owner in the middle of the field.
Junior Messias, who could not finish a good strategic play after a free kick at the edge of the area, had in his boots the first and only chance with danger of a first half that came to an end without more pain or glory for either side.
After the restart, Tottenham gave the match a higher intensity that led them to dominate the first moments of the second half. However, the emergence of Brahim again gave wings to Milan, who relied on their ’10’ to take full control of the game and lead the ‘rossoneri’ attack.
Although Tottenham tried desperately, the most dangerous chances continued to come from the visitors. The Spanish striker and Rafael Leao were a pain in the ass for a home defense that saw the tie become even more complicated in the 77th minute. Romero’s dismissal for a hard tackle on Theo Hernandez decided the game, which came to an end with a good header by Harry Kane that was saved by Maignan and Origi’s shot against the post on the counterattack.
FACT SHEET:.
–RESULT: TOTTENHAM, 0 – MILAN, 0.
–LINE UP:
TOTTENHAM: Forster; Romero, Lenglet, Davies, Royal (Richarlison, min.70); Hojberg, Skipp, Perisic (Pedro Porro, min.53), Kulusevski (Davinson, min.83); Kane.
MILAN: Maignan; Kalulu, Thiaw, Tomori; Messias (Saelemaekers, min.56), Krunic, Tonali, Hernandez; Diaz (Bennacer, min.80), Leao (Rebic, min.89), Giroud (Origi, min.81).
–REFEREE: Clément Turpin (France). Yellow cards for Romero (min.17), Lenglet (min.21) for Tottenham. Sent off Romero.
–STADIUM: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
