Serie A | Milan 2-3 Atalanta: Rossoneri crisis now in red alert

Milan’s Champions League qualification is in huge doubt after a 3-2 home defeat to Atalanta, as the slip to joint fourth place with Roma, leapfrogged by Juventus.

The Rossoneri were in crisis after seven points in as many matches saw Champions League football thrown into doubt. Christian Pulisic suffered a muscular injury this morning and was ruled out, along with Luka Modric and suspended Fikayo Tomori, so Santiago Gimenez got his first start since October 28. They wore special jerseys for Mother’s Day with the names of their Mums on the back. La Dea missed Lorenzo Bernasconi after two points from four rounds, plus Coppa Italia elimination to Lazio in the semi-final.

The ultras in the stands staged a protest against CEO Giorgio Furlani, also lashing out at patron Gerry Cardinale and other club figures.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

It was almost a perfect start for Adrien Rabiot, whose screamer smacked against the outside of the upright in the fourth minute.

Instead, while Atalanta were complaining about a shirt-tug on Nikola Krstovic, the move continued and Ederson drilled low into the far bottom corner from just inside the box.

Krstovic turned and hammered a long-range effort to sting Mike Maignan’s gloves, then as the move continued Giacomo Raspadori just failed to get on the end of Davide Zappacosta’s pass.

Maignan was also tested by Nicola Zalewski at the near post, and before the Rossoneri had managed a single touch in the opposition penalty area, they found themselves 2-0 down.

Krstovic with his back to goal knocked down the De Ketelaere pass for Zappacosta, who shrugged off Matteo Gabbia to drill into the far bottom corner.

Marco Carnesecchi got down for a one-handed save on Gimenez, but the offside flag had gone up for the Mexico international anyway.

Rafael Leao’s frustration was showing, as he was booked for a lunge on Giorgio Scalvini and will be suspended against Genoa, then moments later wasted a golden opportunity by firing straight at Carnesecchi from seven yards.

Alexis Saelemaekers saw one strike smothered by Carnesecchi, then dribbled into the box only to be tackled cleanly by Isak Hien.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek fell awkwardly on his shoulder, so was replaced at half-time by Christopher Nkunku as Max Allegri tried to get back into the game. Scalvini also limped off with an ankle sprain for Atalanta.

La Dea added a third when Samuele Ricci’s pass to Leao was intercepted in midfield, Ederson sending Raspadori down the left to thread his finish through the eye of a needle at the near top corner.

Some fans had seen enough and walked out straight after that goal, leaving the Curva Sud empty with another 35 minutes left to play. There were still enough left to loudly jeer a triple substitution, Leao hauled off after booting a vague attempt into Row Z.

Odilon Kossounou was only on the field for a few minutes when having to come off with a muscular injury, and Nkunku saw Milan’s best chance denied by a desperate Carnesecchi save.

There could’ve been a fourth, Krstovic firing over from close range on a roll across from the right, while the hosts were unlucky to see Nkunku’s effort thump the crossbar when Niclas Fullkrug held off Honest Ahanor to set him up.

Fullkrug also laid it off for Youssouf Fofana’s deflected effort, forcing a Carnesecchi fingertip save, and Rabiot drilled wide, but Davide Bartesaghi also hobbled off with a muscular issue.

When Fullkrug did get the ball in the net on 81 minutes, he was clearly in an offside position and it did not count.

Milan finally did get their first home goal in over 300 minutes of football, as Samuele Ricci’s free kick to the back post was nodded in by Strahinja Pavlovic.