The home side were coming in this game with 11 points from their opening 6 games with only one defeat, against Roma at the Olimpico. This signals a relatively good start to this season from Mandorlini’s men. Milan also came into this game with 11 points from the opening six games with a solitary defeat to Allegri’s Juventus at the San Siro.
Ahead of the match, here were the starting line-ups -
Milan’s starting XI: Abbiati, Abate, Alex, Rami, De Sciglio, Poli, Essien, Muntari, Honda, Torres and El Shaarawy.
Verona’s starting XI: Rafael, Moras, Marques, Marquez, Agostini, Ionita, Tachtsidis, Halfredsson, Gomez, Toni and Jankovic.
From the outset of the game, it was clear that Verona would be content with a draw and were not really challenging Milan; who were dictating the play from start-to-finish. The first goal of the match came out of completely nothing, with full-back Ignazio Abate continuing his fine start to the season by acquiring his fifth assist - the joint highest with Lazio's Antonio Candreva after his cross was sliced by Rafa Marques who inadvertently volleyed it into his own net, leaving Rafael with no chance. Milan kept on pressuring Verona’s back line after that goal and were rewarded after a superb counter-attack.
This ended with young Italian winger Stephan El-Shaarawy splitting Verona’s defence after 26 minutes after he cleverly picked out Honda, who finished brilliantly. Agostini was at fault for the goal as he was in no man’s land when El Shaarawy played the ball to Honda. The Japanese international continues his fine form to the season by dispatching his 5th goal of the term, only one behind Carlos Tevez who is the top goal scorer in Serie A.
Meanwhile almost instantly at the other end, goalkeeper Abbiati was called into action after Luca Toni’s acrobatic volley was superbly saved by the Italian veteran – proving once more why he still a valuable commodity to the Rossoneri. Half an hour gone and Milan were in cruise control, however it looked like they took their foot off the gas after Juanito Gomez Taleb’s fantastic header was stopped by an equally amazing save by Abbiati. 10 minutes after the restart and the game was all but over after Honda was left through on goal after a through ball from Rami.
The Japanese international made no mistake with the finish, prodding the ball home with a left-foot finish across Rafael. That goal now leaves Honda with 6 goals this season – level with Tevez as the top goal scorer in Serie A. However the home side did not give up and kept on testing Abbiati, this time from Panagiotis Tachtsidis’s effort which was palmed over the bar by the 37 year old. In addition to that, the veteran keeper saved an effort from Nico López with his feet.
As the game was petering out it suddenly sparked into life when Verona finally got their well deserved goal through Nico López in the 86th minute. The Uruguayan skipped past Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari very easily and his well-drilled effort caught Abbiati by surprise who couldn’t keep it out. The hosts could of even made it 3-2, which would of left the visitors on the edge for few last minutes. This was nearly made possible after Luca Toni’s knock down in the box was met by Nene, whose finish narrowly went over the bar. So the game ended 3-1 to the visitors thanks to a brace from Honda and a comical own-goal by Rafa Marques, and their curse at the Bentegodi was lifted.
This left Milan with 14 points after the seventh match day and climbing up the table to 4th, closing the gap with the league leaders to five points after Juventus’s 1-1 draw with Sassuolo yesterday. Verona on the other hand are stuck on 11 points and in seventh place. Mandorlini’s men would want to bounce back quickly from this defeat and there is a great chance to do that with a visit to Naples on the horizon.