AC Milan squandered the opportunity to dislodge Juventus from second place in Serie A on Sunday when it lost 4-2 in a rollercoaster clash at Monza.
The result left Milan in third place with 52 points, two behind Juve and 11 back from league leader and bitter rival Inter.
Matteo Pessina, with a penalty on the stroke of half-time after a rash tackle by Malick Thiaw, and a Dany Mota strike gave mid-table Monza a 2-0 lead at the interval.
Monza appeared to be cruising to victory when Milan were reduced to 10 men in the 54th minute after Luka Jovic was red-carded for hitting an opponent.
Milan coach Stefano Pioli was forced to summon heavyweights Rafael Leao, Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud from the bench and the changes reaped an immediate dividend.
Giroud was set-up by Pulisic to score his 12th goal of the season just after the hour with Pulisic himself making it 2-2 in the 88th minute.
However, young French star Warren Bondo gave Monza the advantage again with a superb 20-yard drive in the 90th minute before Lorenzo Colombo added a fourth goal from another penalty in injury time.
“It’s a defeat that really hurts, the night could not have gone any worse,” said Pioli.
On Saturday, Juventus could only draw 2-2 at relegation-threatened Verona and slipped nine points behind leaders Inter who beat Salernitana 4-0 on Friday.
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