AC Milan's top-four bid takes a hit as fans fume
AC Milan's bid for a Champions League place suffered a major setback after it was beaten 3-2 by Atalanta at the San Siro, adding further fuel to protests by the home fans against the club's hierarchy.
Ederson and Davide Zappacosta netted for the visitor in the first half, with Giacomo Raspadori adding a third six minutes after the break. Strahinja Pavlovic pulled one back two minutes from time and Christopher Nkunku converted an added time penalty.
The host side came into the game under pressure after AS Roma's 3-2 win at Parma moved it level on points with Milan. Milan holds the all-important fourth spot thanks to its head-to-head record with Roma, with two rounds remaining.
Title-winner Inter Milan has 85 points, with Napoli on 70 before hosting Bologna. Juventus is third in the standings on 68 points, one ahead of Milan and Roma, with Como two points further adrift in sixth place. Atalanta is seventh on 58 points.
Milan fans held a protest march outside the stadium before the game, with CEO Giorgio Furlani their main target. Since their last league title win in 2022, Milan fans have had little to celebrate, with just last season's Italian Super Cup added to the trophy cabinet.
Milan's title challenge had long since wilted, and a fourth defeat in six games risks ruining Massimiliano Allegri's first season back in charge at the club where he won the Scudetto in his first spell.
Atalanta took a seventh minute lead when Giacomo Raspadori had an effort blocked in the box and Ederson pounced on the resulting loose ball before drilling his shot beyond keeper Mike Maignan into the far bottom corner.
Maignan kept out a strike from Nikola Krstovic as Atalanta continued to threaten and the Milan keeper was in action again to deny Nicola Zalewski. Milan disappeared and Atalanta doubled its lead in the 29th minute.
Krstovic, with his back to goal, held off his marker Matteo Gabbia in the area and laid the ball off to Zappacosta who bundled the ball past Maignan.
Atalanta looked to have put Milan away when Raspadori blasted his shot past Maignan at his near post from a narrow angle, and the Curva Sud began to empty as the patience of the San Siro faithful ran out.
A late rally gave Milan a chance of snatching an unlikely point. Pavlovic's headed goal was quickly followed by Nkunku's penalty, but Atalanta held on under pressure.
