A night to forget for Higuain as Ronaldo seals the win for Juventus

Milan 0 : 2 Juventus

AC Milan hosted Juventus in the final Serie A game of the weekend. Often the Sunday night game in the Italian league is the star fixture of the weekend, and this did not disappoint.

Despite Milan being without eight first team players, the anticipation surrounding this fixture was as high as ever, whilst Juventus were missing only former Milan defender, Leonardo Bonucci.

AC Milan built up the tension to this game with a three part video series on social media, but started the opening minutes in an extremely nervy manner. Juventus looked to impose themselves on the game early, pressuring the Milan midfield at every opportunity.

Mario Mandzukic opened the scoring in the 8th minute with a far post header from an Alex Sandro cross. The Brazilian left back had acres of space and eons of time to pick his spot, with the Milan players seemingly reluctant to close him down. Mandzukic took full advantage to mark his return from injury with his 5th goal of the season, equaling his tally for the entirety of the last campaign.

AC Milan had golden opportunity to equalise immediately after after a fantastic solo run by Higuain, but the final pass failed to meet its target before seconds later Mandzukic nearly doubled the lead, and his tally, with a carbon copy of his earlier goal.

Not until the 33rd minute did Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny have a save to make, and it came from a speculative 25 yard effort from Suso. Soon after the referee brandished his first card of the game, to Mehdi Benatia, who lunged into a challenge with Tiémoué Bakayoko, a definite yellow.

Minutes before halftime, AC Milan broke forward, and Suso squared to Higuain who flicked the ball onto the arm of Benatia. Protests for a penalty were furious from the Rossoneri, causing the referee to use the VAR system at his disposal. The video replay swayed the official to award Milan the spot kick.

The Juventus players, who know Higuain well from his time at the club, offered Szczesny advice on where the striker would go. They were correct, as Szczesny got a fingertip to the ball and tipped it onto the post.

The second half started at a much slower pace, with Milan attempting to hold possession and control the game for a few minutes. But they failed to produce any quality and penetrate the Juventus defence.

Paulo Dybala soon went close at the hour mark from a free kick, after Romagnoli fouled Ronaldo on the edge of the area.

The football deteriorated as the game wore on, but the tension stayed. The game remained balanced on a knifes edge as both teams gave away needless fouls, ensuring neither could gather any momentum.

Massimo Allegri opted to bring on Douglas Costa in an attempt to stretch the play and give the midfield and defence some much needed rest. Genarro Gattuso opted for Laxalt to inject some energy into his side, putting pressure on the Juventus defence.

Cristiano Ronaldo sealed the win on 81 minutes, finding himself in the right place at the right time, pummeling in the rebound after a Cancelo strike was palmed back into the box.

The night was well and truly over when Milan striker Gonzalo Higuain was booked, and immediately shown a straight red for something he said to the referee. The former Juventus and Napoli player then completely lost his head, and left the pitch an emotional wreck.

Juventus coasted through the final minutes of the game to seal their 11th win in Serie A already this season, and surely on course for another Scudetto.

AC Milan will be ruing that missed penalty, and Higuain will be ruing his emotional reaction towards the officials which completely put the game to bed. There will be better nights for Gattuso and his Milan side, but Juventus were deserved winners tonight.

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