Lazio 2-2 AC Milan: Diego Moreira scores twice in two minutes to rescue Amorim's unbeaten run

For 45 minutes at the Olimpico, this looked like a straightforward afternoon for Lazio. By the final whistle it had become one of the more dramatic turnarounds of Serie A's opening month, and Diego Moreira — a substitute who was not on the pitch when the second half started — was the reason why.

Matteo Cancellieri put Lazio ahead in the 10th minute, finishing off a move started by Mattia Zaccagni, and Tijjani Noslin doubled the lead on 39 minutes. The hosts were the better side by some distance in the first half, moving the ball quickly and giving Milan's back line little time to settle.

Amorim's triple change turns the game

Ruben Amorim did not wait to react. At the break he sent on Moreira, Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah together, and the switch transformed Milan's attack. Pulisic set up Moreira for the equalising goal in the 65th minute, and two minutes later Rabiot found Moreira again for the second — two goals in two minutes from a player who had been on the bench when the second half kicked off.

"I don't know if we deserve more points for the second half or fewer points for the first half. I think that in the end we lost two points because we only played for one half, and that is really frustrating."

— Ruben Amorim, AC Milan manager

Score by half

A first dropped points for Lazio, a warning sign for both

Lazio had won their opening two Serie A matches without conceding a goal — 1-0 at Genoa and 1-0 over the same opponent again at home — and this was the first time all season Gennaro Gattuso's side had let a lead slip. Milan, for their part, arrived unbeaten in the league too, having beaten Torino and Venezia before a 1-1 draw at Juventus, but they had lost 1-2 at Real Madrid in the Champions League only four days earlier. A draw at the Olimpico, coming back from two goals down, was a more mixed result than the table alone will show: a point salvaged after conceding the initiative for 45 minutes, in a week that already included a European defeat.

Before this round, Guriball's table had Milan 4th with seven points from three matches and Lazio 7th with six points from two — a game in hand that Lazio still had to play. The draw takes Milan to eight points and Lazio to seven, with both clubs still inside the top half of a Serie A table that, four rounds in, remains extremely tight: Roma and Inter lead on nine points, and three points already separate more than a dozen clubs.

Match facts

• 10' — Matteo Cancellieri (Lazio), assisted by Mattia Zaccagni
• 39' — Tijjani Noslin (Lazio)
• 65' — Diego Moreira (AC Milan), assisted by Christian Pulisic
• 67' — Diego Moreira (AC Milan), assisted by Adrien Rabiot

At 22 years and 37 days old, Moreira became the youngest AC Milan player to score twice as a substitute in a single Serie A match since records for the competition began in 2004-05 — a mark that says as much about the impact of Amorim's half-time change as it does about the finishing itself.

What's next

Both sides return to Serie A action after the international break. Lazio will look to bounce back from their first dropped points of the season, while Milan — unbeaten in the league but coming off a Champions League defeat in midweek — will want a full week on the training ground to sort out the issues that let Lazio dominate the opening 45 minutes at the Olimpico.