Honours Shared As Old Rivals AC Milan And Juve Draw
MILAN, Dec 9 (AFP) - Historic rivals AC Milan and Juventus fought out a fiercely-contested 1-1 draw here Sunday in front of a sell-out 81,691 crowd at the San Siro.
Milan took a first-half lead through their prolific Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko but a penalty from Alessandro Del Piero shortly after the interval denied Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti a famous revenge win over the club that sacked him last season.
It was probably a fair result after Juve dominated the early exchanges and Milan finished strongly.
Juve dominated the early stages and came close to scoring after 12 minutes when they were awarded a freekick after Milan's Danish defender Tomas Helveg was harshly ruled to have fouled Del Piero.
Del Piero picked himself up and curled a fine freekick but Christian Abbiati dived to his right to make a fine save.
Juve continued to press with Dutchman Edgar Davids - playing the club where he had the least successful spell of his career - looking determined to show the San Siro fans what they had missed.
But then Davids began to fade, partially vindicating Juve coach Marcello Lippi who had dropped him in recent matches.
Del Piero again went close when he volleyed just wide after receiving a cushioned header from Frenchman David Trezeguet.
But after 23 minutes Milan took the lead totally against the run of play.
Shevchenko picked the ball up midway inside the Juve half and outsprinted Davids, Mark Iuliano and Gianluca Pessotto although he was forced wide.
But with everyone expecting a cross Shevchenko lashed the ball from out on the right and it dipped into the net over the head of Gianluigi Buffon.
The error by Buffon only added to his reputation for being something of a bungler since joining the Turin side from Parma for a world record 37 million dollars for a goalkeeper in the summer.
That delighted the majority of the fans at the San Siro.
Buffon partially atoned with a fine save from a header by Turkish midfielder Umit Davala and half-time did not come too soon for Juve. But it only took Juve two minutes to level the scores after the break.
Del Piero scored from the penalty spot after Paolo Maldini was harshly judged by referee Gianluca Paparesta to have fouled Juve's Uruguayan substitute Mariano Zalayeta who had just entered for the ineffectual Czech Pavel Nedved.
After that Milan in particular looked dangerous and Buffon made some fine saves first from Spaniard Javi Moreno - playing in place of Filippo Inzaghi who missed the chance to face his former club through injury.
And Buffon was equally sharp to deny Demetrio Albertini in the closing minutes as Milan continued to look in vain for a winner.
