Stefano Pioli’s side suffered a damaging 2-1 home defeat to Spezia on Monday and a return to winning ways never looked likely against an unambitious Bianconeri outfit, who failed to register a single shot on target.
The hosts’ woes were compounded when Zlatan Ibrahimovic hobbled off in the first half, with neither set of players stepping up after that to prevent Milan and Juve drawing both their games in a single Serie A campaign for the first time since the 1991-92 season.
Results | Points Table | Fixtures
The stalemate meant Milan ended the weekend in third place, four points adrift of leaders Inter having played a game more, while Juve remained in fifth.
Milan did most of the pressing in the early stages, with their best effort coming in the 20th minute when Wojciech Szczesny got down well to paw away Rafael Leao’s strike from the edge of the penalty area.
They suffered a blow shortly after the midway point in the first half when Ibrahimovic sustained an injury and was replaced by Olivier Giroud, the France international largely toiling in attack before the interval.
The former Chelsea striker saw a header kept out by Szczesny in the 70th minute – one of very few chances in a miserable second half.
Juve appeared content to settle for a point for much of the match, with Massimiliano Allegri stretching his unbeaten run against Pioli as a coach in Serie A to a whopping 16 games – with 11 wins and five draws.
What does it mean? Milan’s title hopes fading
After Inter’s last-gasp win over Venezia on Saturday, Milan really needed a victory of their own to stay in touch at the top of the table.
Should their neighbours win their game in hand they would be seven points clear – a gap that will surely be insurmountable if the Rossoneri keep performing like this.
Bentancur the best of a bad bunch
Few covered themselves in glory in what was an abysmal advert for Serie A, but Juve midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur, strongly linked with Aston Villa, can at least hold his head high. His pass completion rate of 93.8 per cent was higher than any of his team-mates, while no player on the pitch made more tackles (five) or interceptions (four).
Diaz struggles
Brahim Diaz endured a difficult game, failing to have a single shot or play a key a pass in his 61 minutes on the pitch before he was replaced by Ismael Bennacer.
What’s next?
Milan have a mouth-watering derby against Serie A leaders Inter to look forward to on February 5, while Juve host Hellas Verona on the same day.
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