MILAN: AC Milan missed a chance to pile pressure on local rivals and fellow Champions League chasers Inter Milan in Serie A after being held to a goalless draw by Torino at the San Siro on Sunday.

Gennaro Gattuso’s fourth-placed Milan are three points behind Inter, who lost to leaders Juventus on Friday, after wasting opportunities to win the match, with forward Patrick Cutrone missing a golden chance with four minutes left and Gonzalo Higuain, returning from a two-match ban, also denied late.

Milan’s wastefulness wasn’t punished by Torino, four points behind Milan in sixth and still unbeaten away from home, thanks to goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma denying Iago Falque and Andrea Belotti.

“I don’t consider it a missed opportunity, as we knew very well that Torino are a difficult team,” said Gattuso. “It’s a good point. I don’t see it as a bad performance at all. I am sure that a year ago, we would have lost this game.”

Milan also had the chance to move away from Lazio, who contrived to draw 2-2 with Sampdoria on Saturday despite taking the lead five minutes into stoppage time, and Roma, who threw away a two-goal lead to draw at Cagliari after the Sardinians were reduced to nine men.

All lag behind Juve, who are eight points clear of second-placed Napoli.

Fiorentina winger Kevin Mirallas scored his debut Serie A goal in the 96th minute to help his side rescue a 3-3 draw at ninth-placed Sassuolo and Cesare Prandelli started his reign as Genoa coach with a 1-1 draw against fellow strugglers SPAL.

Duvan Zapata scored a hat-trick as Atalanta won 3-1 at Udinese who remained two points off the relegation zone as 18th-placed Bologna lost 2-1 at Empoli, who are only five points above the bottom three themselves.

Chievo Verona remained last in the standings but managed a 1-1 draw at Parma despite playing almost 20 minutes with 10 men after midfielder Fabio Depaoli was shown a second yellow card.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2018