Milan, Feb 2 (IANS) AC Milan drew with Torino 1-1 at home to see their winning Serie A run under Clarence Seedorf come to an end.
Earlier Saturday, Udinese ended their four-match losing streak with a 2-0 victory over Bologna, reports Xinhua.
Seedorf steered his new side to two wins in as many games but they could not continue their winning momentum against a well-drilled Torino outfit. The visitors went ahead at the 17th minute through Ciro Immobile before Adil Rami equalised for Milan four minutes after the break.
“I did say beforehand Giampiero Ventura’s teams are very well organised and we saw that again tonight. We had a little more patience in the second half to spread the play and that made the difference,” Seedorf said.
“In the first half Torino were still a little deep so Honda tried to breakthrough but you have to spread the play to stretch out opposition defences. It requires patience and my players had more of that after the break, forcing the opponents to move out of position.”
Seedorf’s Torino counterpart Ventura was left to rue Torino’s missed opportunity to take all three points from Milan.
“You can never be sure at San Siro but we had the chance to go 2-0 up and it certainly would have made it more difficult for Milan. We always try to play football and the first half was decidedly positive,” he said.
“We seemed a little frightened after the break as Milan closed down more of the spaces and we suffered a little. I think it is overall an entirely deserved point as not many teams come to San Siro playing this openly.”
Udinese took on Bologna after having not won in the league since Dec 21. Antonio di Natale put Udinese ahead with a penalty kick after 15 minutes. Substitute Nicolas Lopez sealed the victory for Udinese with a last-gasp strike.
Elsewhere, Fiorentina suffered a surprise 0-1 loss at Cagliari. Vincenzo Montella’s side were condemned to their first defeat since Dec 8 as Mauricio Ricardo Pinilla converted a penalty six minutes before half-time to score the win for the hosts.
“We didn’t lose the game because of refereeing decisions. I saw Cagliari play in an obstructionist manner because they had taken the lead. I expected the officials to help the game move quicker but in Italy they favour obstructionist tactics. I say that publicly because some referees do not aid those teams who try to play football,” Montella said.