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12/09/2001. Serie A powerhouses Milan and Juventus battled to a 1-1 draw in the Sunday night main event of the Italian championship's matchday 13.

It was a very exciting contest, played better by Juve in the first half and by Milan in the second. But there will be plenty of polemics ahead, as the bianconeri scored the equalizer only thanks to a very doubtful penalty kick.

The first minutes of the match clearly proved that both teams wanted the three points, and the rhythm of play was really impressive. 

After the 10th minute, Juve began setting the pace to the game and went close to the lead at least three times. In the 11th minute Abbiati was great on a superb free kick by Del Piero, in the 19th a beautiful volley shot by Juve’s number 10 went just wide and one minute later a header by Trezeguet flew high over the bar.

Precisely when it seemed that Juve could take the deserved lead, Shevchenko decided to show what he’s capable of. The Ukrainian striker conquered a ball on the right side of the pitch, and after a couple of fine moves he made a superb shot on the opposite corner of Buffon’s net. 

In the following minutes Juve tried to react, but Milan were boosted by the unexpected lead and played much better than they did in the opening moments of the match. 

The bianconeri increased their pressure in the last 10 minutes, creating a couple of good chances. In the 32nd minute a free kick by Del Piero went wide at the right of Abbiati, and 3 minutes later neither Zambrotta nor Trezeguet were able to exploit a perfect supply by Juve’s skipper. 

Right before the double whistle, Montero picked up a muscular injury and Lippi was forced to replace him with Zenoni.

At the beginning of the second half Juve replaced Nedved with Zalayeta. After only 30 seconds the referee whistled a penalty kick, following a foul by Maldini on the Uruguayan striker, but the TV clearly proved that there was no foul on Zalayeta. Del Piero didn’t miss the chance and netted the 1-1.

Milan reacted furiously and dominated the rest of the second half, but Juve defended their box with care and the rossoneri didn’t manage to create big scoring chances. In the 10th, there was a nice play on the left by Shevchenko, but his cross was too high for Javi Moreno.

The Spaniard was replaced by Simone in the 18th, and 6 minutes later Contra relieved Umit, while Lippi replaced Davids with Conte in the 35th. Milan kept on dominating, but nothing major happened until the final whistle.

The draw was almost useless for both sides, as Inter, Roma, Chievo and Lazio won today, and the gap seperating the two Serie A giants from the top of the ranking has been raised up to five points for Milan and seven for Juventus.