Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 AC Milan: Rossoneri finish 13th after disaster in Croatia | OneFootball

AC Milan’s worst nightmare came true on Wednesday night as they lost 2-1 against Dinamo Zagreb to surrender their top eight place in the Champions League.

Dinamo went ahead in the first half after a slip from Matteo Gabbia allowed Martin Baturina to stroll through on goal and score, and then Yunus Musah got two yellow cards in relatively quick succession to make the task harder.

Christian Pulisic got an equaliser early in the second half with an impressive strike, yet parity was short lived as Marko Pjaca restored the lead for the home side, one that they would see out in the end.

The result means that Milan dropped from sixth in the table before a ball was kicked to 13th, and now a potentially tricky play-off tie is on the cards in February.

Faced with a crisis in the right-back position, Sergio Conceicao made one change from the team that beat Parma in dramatic fashion on Sunday. Fikayo Tomori was named on the right side of defence, with the rest of the side remaining unchanged.

The home side actually started the game better as their compact block off the ball allowed them to spring forward quickly. Baturina fired the first warning sign as he was allowed to cut in onto his right foot and shoot from the edge of the box, but Mike Maignan watched it drift safely wide. Moments later, Stojkovic nearly surged through on goal but overran it a touch.

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It was only Dinamo who looked like scoring in the opening 20 minutes, and they did take the lead after an error from Matteo Gabbia. Receiving the pass from Strahinja Pavlovic he seemed to trip over the ball, allowed Baturina to stroll through and finish under Maignan one-on-one.

The first half-hour seemed to fly by, and Milan’s frustrations were evident. Firstly Christian Pulisic went into the book for protesting against a foul, then Yunus Musah tried to drag a player back up who had been kicked by Alvaro Morata and he too got a yellow card. All of this was while the away side hadn’t managed a shot on target.

Milan began to at least get some shots off, albeit from outside the box. Youssouf Fofana had a couple of opportunities presented to him around 20 yards out yet lashed both way over the bar.

Things went from bad to even worse for Milan with six minutes left in the first half as Musah was giving his marching orders for a second yellow card. The American held on to Stojkovic for a bit too long as he tried to get into the box, leaving the referee no choice.

What followed afterwards showed how the occasion was getting to Milan. Musah essentially refused to leave the field and it needed Maignan to push him off, who was also yellow carded for protesting.

Zagreb should have gone in two goals up at the break when Baturina dinked a ball through to Kulenovic in behind who put it wide.

Conceicao cannot have been happy with what he saw at the break and he made two changes. Filippo Terracciano and Samuel Chukwueze came on, with Gabbia and Morata the two men withdrawn.

As Dinamo raced through on a two-on-zero break and the finish was applied after the square ball it looked like Milan’s race was run. However, the goal was called back due to a handball in the build-up.

Milan drew themselves level in the 53rd minute with what was their first proper shot on goal, and it came from Christian Pulisic. It was Tomori who got the assist through a rather unconventional method as he seemed to miscue a shot that was trapped by the American winger, who pivoted and beat the goalkeeper with a powerful low shot at the near post.

However, the home side retook the lead on the hour mark, and it came through the former Juventus man Pjaca. A cross came in from the right and Milan were slow to react to it, with the forward unleashing a powerful low shot back across goal that nestled inside the far post.

Less than two minutes later, the Rossoneri thought they had the chance to level again from the spot as Leao was brought down by the goalkeeper. The referee went to consult the VAR monitor and adjudged the Portuguese to have caught the defender with his trailing arm first, and overturned the spot kick.

Panic stations set in inside the final 20 minutes with Milan sat in 13th place in the table, having started in sixth. Leao continued to be the main source of the danger, and drew a good save from Nevistic.

In the 82nd minute, Conceicao made another two changes with Noah Okafor and Tammy Abraham coming on for Leao and Reijnders.