BEYOND THE RESULT

(IN THE PHOTO: the choreography from the Milan fans ahead of the match)MILAN – In the end, the commitment, the desire and the solidity of the Milan players wasn’t enough to overturn the pre-match predictions. Juventus picked up the 3 points at the San Siro on Saturday against a Milan side that defended in an ordered manner, used the counter attack when it could and battled for every ball with character and determination. A look at some of the statistics offer encouragement to the rossoneri ahead of the next match away to Empoli:2009- the last time that the first-half between Milan-Juventus ended with a 0-0 score-line. A clear sign of how close the match was against Juventus at the San Siro. 2- the number of points more that the rossoneri have compared to last season. Last year, Milan left the Bentegodi stadium defeated in Round 1 by Hellas Verona before winning the next match at home to Cagliari and then drawing away to Torino in the final moments of the match in Round 3. A total of 4 points compared to the 6 collected so far this season.20- the players used by coach Inzaghi in the first 270 minutes of football played in Serie A. A sign of the strength in depth and important qualities that exist in the Milan squad. Against Juventus, Abbiati, Pazzini and Fernando Torres made their first appearances of the season. Torres also made his debut with the Milan jersey versus the bianconeri.25 November 2012- the last time that Milan beat Juventus at the San Siro in Serie A. On that day it was a Robinho penalty on 31 minutes that proved to be decisive.