Salernitana marked their final Serie A game of the season with a stunning comeback to draw 3-3 with AC Milan thanks to three second-half goals as Stefano Pioli and Olivier Giroud’s final games with the Rossoneri were ruined. Despite their poor recent form, the hosts, who had already secured second spot, began very strongly, with visiting goalkeeper Vincenzo Fiorillo denying Giroud and Rafael Leão in the opening few minutes. Christian Pulisic was next to test the 34-year-old after squirming away from Junior Sambia, before the American fashioned two further openings, but failed to find the telling pass both times. That ceased to matter on 22 minutes though as Tijjani Reijnders’ floated ball looked an extremely comfortable one for Fiorillo to deal with, but he shockingly spilled it right into the path of Leão, who was left with the easiest of finishes.It wasn’t long before Milan’s lead was doubled when Alessandro Florenzi’s dangerous corner found Giroud, who was falling to ground but managed to produce a perfectly executed volley into Fiorillo’s right-hand corner. The floodgates threatened to open, but thankfully for Salernitana, a third goal, this time by Theo Hernández, was then chalked off for an offside earlier in the move, before Fiorillo clawed away Matteo Gabbia’s header on the stroke of halftime.On an evening of farewells, the injury-plagued Mattia Caldara, another player departing Milan, made a belated league debut here after joining in 2018, replacing Gabbia just shy of the hour mark. Out of the blue however, Salernitana soon halved the deficit. Miscommunication between Fikayo Tomori and stand-in goalkeeper Antonio Mirante led to the concession of a corner, which was whipped into the box by Sambia for substitute Simy to nod in at close range. Simy incredibly then almost equalised as his downward header was pushed on to the woodwork by Mirante. The home faithful were understandably getting more tense but the two-goal cushion was restored on 77 minutes as Pulisic found Davide Calabria, whose glancing header flew across Fiorillo.Sambia’s low strike ensured a nervy finale, and after Giroud and Mirante were brought off to standing ovations, the latter’s replacement, 20-year-old debutant Lapo Nava, was quickly forced to pick the ball out of his net as Simy got his second of a remarkable contest, tucking home after Loum Tchaouna’s shot had been palmed into his path.Milan did at least limp to 75 points – the third time in four full campaigns under Pioli that they’ve reached that figure – while Salernitana, despite rallying late on, are still without a win in 2024 (five draws, 16 losses) and must next try their luck in Serie B.SERIE A – (FINAL) MATCHDAY 38ThursdayCagliari – Fiorentina 2-3 (0-1)/Deiola 64, Mutandwa 85 – Bonaventura 39, Gonzalez 89, Melo 90+13 pen/FridayGenoa – Bologna 2-0 (1-0)/Malinovsky 13, Vitinha 59/SaturdayJuventus – Monza 2-0 (2-0)/Chiesa 26, Alex Sandro 28/AC Milan – Salernitana 3-3 (2-0)/Leao 22, Giroud 27, Calabria 77 – Simy 64, 89, Sambia 87/Sunday19:00: (3.40) Atalanta (3.40) Torino (2.15)19:00: (1.48) Napoli (4.40) Lecce (6.75)21:45: (2.50) Frosinone (3.35) Udinese (2.85)21:45: (1.92) Empoli (3.50) Roma (4.00)21:45: (1.37) Lazio (5.10) Sassuolo (7.75)21:45: (5.70) Verona (4.00) Inter (1.60)***odds are subject to change***
