IBRAHIMOVIC RESCUES LATE POINT

Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Zlatan Ibrahimovic snatched a last-gasp equaliser for Serie A leaders AC Milan in an eight-goal thriller against Udinese.

The home side trailed 3-1 with just over 20 minutes remaining and, having got back on level terms, looked to have thrown away a point when German Denis put Udinese in front again on 89 minutes.

But Ibrahimovic struck in the dying seconds to ensure Milan at least partially took advantage of closest rivals Lazio losing at home to Lecce.

An entertaining game produced plenty of chances and it was surprising it took until the 35th minute for the deadlock to be broken.

Before then, Alexandre Pato had wasted a good chance when he fired over from a good position inside the box, while fellow Brazilian Robinho also blazed over five minutes later after being set up by good work from Ibrahimovic.

At the other end, Milan goalkeeper Marco Amelia was called into action and produced a superb save from Antonio Di Natale.

Di Natale was not to be denied on 35 minutes as he tapped into an empty net after Gokhan Inler's shot hit the post.

But Milan struck back to equalise in first-half injury time, Ibrahimovic setting up Pato for an equally simple finish.

Further chances went begging at the start of the second half before Udinese regained the lead on 53 minutes as Alexis Sanchez beat Daniele Bonera before firing into the bottom corner.

And the visitors looked like taking three points from the San Siro on 66 minutes when Di Natale took advantage of Clarence Seedorf losing the ball to score his second of the game.

Milan must have thought it was not going to be their day when Ibrahimovic fired over from 15 yards and Rodney Strasser then had his shot brilliantly saved by Samir Handanovic.

But they were given a lifeline after 79 minutes when Mehdi Benatia inexplicably deflected Thiago Silva's cross into his net, and Pato made it 3-3 three minutes later after being set up by Antonio Cassano.

There was still time for more drama however, Denis finishing off a Udinese counter-attack with just a minute remaining.

But Ibrahimovic was determined to have the last word and struck three minutes into injury time after being set up by Cassano.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

:)) ;)) ;;) :D ;) :p :(( :) :( :X =(( :-o :-/ :-* :| 8-} :)] ~x( :-t b-( :-L x( =))