AC Milan twice took the lead against Empoli on Saturday night, but were twice pegged back as they were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw.
Carlos Bacca had given the visitors an early lead as he broke free of the Empoli defence to latch on to a long ball from Luca Antonelli and showed his clinical edge in front of goal.
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However, Milan weren’t able to hold on to their lead prior to the half-time break, as Piotr Zielinski grabbed an equaliser after some good build-up play from Marco Giampaolo’s men.
Riccardo Saponara was a threat throughout the encounter against his former club, and his quality on the ball made the difference as he set Zielinski free down the right-hand side before the midfield ace sent his effort through Gianluigi Donnarumma’s legs.
Milan didn’t waste any time in the second half to regain the lead, with Giacomo Bonaventura striking early this time as he made the most of a fortunate ricochet to make it 2-1 with a cool finish.
Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side were denied all three points though as Massimo Maccarone struck to set up a thrilling finish to the game, although tempers did flare at times and threatened to spoil the contest.
Nevertheless, Empoli held on for a deserved point while Milan will look back with regrets as they missed an opportunity to close the gap on the top five ahead of the remaining fixtures in Serie A this weekend.
Having seemingly turned a corner against Fiorentina last weekend, it remains to be seen whether or not they can get back to winning ways in the Coppa Italia in midweek, when they face Alessandria in the first leg of the semi-finals on Tuesday night.