Milan had ‘lesson in maturity’ in Genoa draw, says Allegri

Massimiliano Allegri believes AC Milan’s 1-1 draw with Genoa was a “lesson in maturity” for the Serie A title challengers.

After going behind to Lorenzo Colombo’s first-half strike, Rafael Leao rescued a point for the hosts with a 92nd-minute equaliser.

Milan are now unbeaten in 17 consecutive matches in a Serie A season for the first time since May 2004 (19 on that occasion), while they are three points behind league leaders and rivals Inter.

The Rossoneri registered 32 shots in the stalemate, eight of which were on target, while they also hit the woodwork twice as they produced 2.45 expected goals (xG).

Allegri, however, insisted his side must learn to be more patient when playing against more defensive teams.

“In football, you take whatever the result gives you,” he told DAZN. “We have to take the positives from this match.

“They were very good at shutting us down. We found ourselves in favourable positions despite a very tricky first half, but then went and conceded that goal.

“They dropped in intensity in the second half, and we increased. The thing that we have to improve on is our patience against these low-block teams so that we don’t leave ourselves exposed on the counter-attack, which is how we risked losing this game.

“It’s a lesson in maturity if we want to achieve our goal, which is to finish in the top four. We have to improve. We didn’t have enough patience, we were too hasty and haste leads nowhere.”

Rafa nodded in his seventh league goal this season

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— AC Milan (@acmilan) January 9, 2026

Genoa saw a golden chance for a late winner go begging when Nicolae Stanciu shot over the bar from the penalty spot in the 99th minute.

Genoa have failed to score three of their four penalties taken in Serie A this season: more misses from the spot than any other team in the current tournament.

But it was head coach Danielle De Rossi who took the blame for the miss this time around.

“Before the game, we had two penalty takers: [Ruslan] Malinovskyi and [Aaron] Martin, but I brought them both off,” De Rossi explained.

“It was my choice [to let Stanciu take it] because I’ve seen how he takes them in training and has an incredible shot.

“Given the other players that were on the pitch, I thought it was a reasonable choice. I’m sorry for him because he’s a great guy, who never lowers his professionalism, even if he isn’t playing. He deserved to celebrate, as did the others given the game we played.”