Sassuolo 1-1 AC Milan: Cas Odenthal cancels out Adrien Rabiot inside five minutes

AC Milan led this game for five minutes. That was the whole window: Adrien Rabiot opened the scoring in the 63rd minute, finishing off a Luka Modrić pass, and by the 68th Cas Odenthal had already dragged Sassuolo level again. A match that briefly looked like three away points for Milan ended instead as a 1-1 draw at the Mapei Stadium, Milan's run without defeat extended but the gap to the top of the table left untouched.

Milan had controlled long periods without finding a breakthrough, and the goal, when it came, had the look of a side about to see out a routine away win — Modrić picking out Rabiot's run with the kind of pass that has defined his late-career role in midfield. Sassuolo's response was immediate rather than desperate. Odenthal's equaliser arrived before Milan's fans had even settled into celebrating, and from there the game never swung back the home side's way in either direction; neither team created the clear chance that would have separated them again before full time.

Match facts

• 41' — Yellow card: Pervis Estupiñán (AC Milan)
• 45+2' — Yellow card: Koni De Winter (AC Milan)
• 63' — GOAL: Adrien Rabiot (AC Milan), assisted by Luka Modrić
• 68' — GOAL: Cas Odenthal (Sassuolo)
• 87' — Yellow card: Gonçalo Ramos (AC Milan)
• 90' — Yellow card: Strahinja Pavlović (AC Milan)
• 90+3' — Yellow card: Kristian Thorstvedt (Sassuolo)

Four of the match's five bookings went Milan's way, a detail that fits a game in which the visitors spent long spells defending a scoreline they no longer had. Estupiñán and De Winter were both cautioned before half-time, and by the closing minutes Ramos and Pavlović had joined them — Milan finishing the match with as many yellow cards as they had goals.

The form each side carried in

Milan arrived at the Mapei Stadium unbeaten in five, with three wins and two draws. The draws, against Juventus and Lazio, were the only blemish, and this one made it three stalemates in their last six, even as the longer unbeaten sequence stayed intact. Sassuolo's build-up had been far choppier: a loss at Atalanta, a win over Torino, a draw at Bologna, an eye-catching 3-2 comeback win over Juventus, and then a 1-2 defeat away at Monza. The point against Milan broke that defeat and put them back on an even keel — two wins, a draw and two losses from their last five, with as many goals scored as conceded across the five matches.

Where it leaves both sides

Before kick-off Milan had 11 points from five games and Sassuolo seven from five. The draw takes Milan to 12 points from six, 5th in Serie A and four behind Inter and Lazio, and Sassuolo to eight points from six, 10th — Milan's form intact without the win that would have put real pressure on the leaders, and Sassuolo adding another point against one of the division's better sides. For Milan, the takeaway is a run now at six games without defeat, but a third draw in six; for Sassuolo, it is evidence that their mid-table position understates how competitive they can be against the teams above them, a point they had already made by beating Juventus a month earlier.