Shaarawy rescues point for Milan vs Udinese
Shaarawy rescues point for Milan vs Udinese
El Shaarawy spared the champions blushes after the Udinese captain had put the visitors ahead.

Milan: Milan came from a goal down to grab a point against Udinese, at the San Siro after neat finish from El Shaarawy cancelled out Di Natale's opener.

The Champions started the match brightly and were looking to get forward early on, and in the ninth minute Antonio Cassano drifted onto the left flank, his curling cross was met by Alexandre Pato, but the Brazilian dragged his header wide. This turned out to be the striker’s only real contribution to the game as 10 minutes later he was withdrawn with a hamstring injury, being replaced by new signing Stephan El Shaarawy.

Five minutes later and Udinese had their first chance to open the scoring, Gabriel Torje found some space down the left and with Antonio Di Natale waiting in the box, he tried to get his cross in, but unfortunately for the young Romanian his whipped delivery went straight to Christian Abbiati.

A few minutes later and the away side got their goal through star man Di Natale, Torje again curling in a cross from the left wing, this time however a mistake from Abbiati who couldn’t keep hold of the ball, left the Bianconeri captain with a simple finish to take the lead for the visitors.

Just before half time the home side came close to levelling the tie, with a well struck free kick from Clarence Seedorf crashing against the post, after Cassano had been brought down on the edge of the box.

The second half started and Milan looked desperate to even the scoring, and their first real chance came in the 58th minute after a great chipped ball from Seedorf, found Cassano in the box, the Italian controlled the ball neatly with his chest, but his shot on the turn was pushed away by Samir Handanovic.

Less than five minutes later though and the home side were level through a great finish from El Shaarawy, the youngster received the ball on the right side of the box after a neat ball from Cassano and made no mistake in guiding his low finish into the far corner.

In the last 15 minutes the visitors looked the more likely to win the game with substitute Giampiero Pinzi striking the post with a low drive, before Abbiati pulled of a great save to deny Di Natale in the closing minutes.

Milan still without a win after three games will be looking for an improved result away at Cagliari while Udinese who have started the season well will be hoping to continue their run at home to Cesena in the next round of Serie A.

Meanwhile, Genoa beat Catania 3-0 to take over the top spot in the table, with previous leaders Napoli losing 1-0 at Chievo Verona.

Rodrigo Palacio, who had been linked to a possible move to Inter Milan in the off-season, scored twice for Genoa and then set up a third goal for Kevin Constant.

Playing in a half-empty stadium, Napoli struggled to find inspiration after their 3-1 win over Milan on Sunday and Chievo's Davide Moscardelli took advantage of an error from defender Ignacio Fideleff to score in the 72nd.

"We didn't have one shot on goal and we lost the match," Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri said. "Losing happens and we're moving on."

Genoa, Juventus and Udinese each have seven points but Genoa lead on goals scored.

Napoli, Fiorentina, Palermo and Cagliari are one point behind the leaders, while Milan have just two points from three matches.

"Of course it's not nice to look at the standings and see that," Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said. "But right now we've got 12 players injured and very few forwards. Tonight it was important not to lose, and we shouldn't look at the standings now."

Having missed all of last season due to injury, Stevan Jovetic scored twice and Alessio Cerci added another as Fiorentina beat Parma 3-0.

Israel midfielder Eran Zahavi, Nicolas Bertolo and captain Fabrizio Miccoli scored for Palermo in a 3-2 win over Cagliari, who struck back with late goals from Daniele Conti and Rajda Nainggolan.

Also, Lazio rallied to win 2-1 at Cesena with second-half goals from Brazilian playmaker Hernanes and Germany forward Miroslav Klose after Adrian Mutu put the hosts ahead early with his first goal since transferring from Fiorentina.

Lazio coach Edy Reja had offered to resign on Tuesday, but was asked to stay on by club president Claudio Lotito and the squad, which now has its first league win.

And having begun the season with a six-point penalty from a match-fixing and betting scandal, Atalanta moved back into the positive points with a 2-1 win over Lecce - giving the Bergamo squad one point from two wins and a draw.

On Thursday, Roma host Siena.

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