Udinese 1-1 AC Milan
Former Portimonense striker Beto is taking Serie A by storm, but the Udinese man was far from satisfied after his side allowed a lead he had given them to slip late on against AC Milan.
Udinese led the Rossoneri for most of the evening at the Dacia Arena through Beto’s early strike, but a Zlatan Ibrahimovic equaliser in the 92nd minute allowed the visitors a share of the spoils.
Beto’s men came into the encounter on a poor run of results, with only one victory – against Sassuolo – since early September, leading to the dismissal of boss Luca Gotti ahead of the match with Milan. Beto, however, has been a clear positive in the team’s campaign, with regular goals throughout the collective struggles.
It took the 23-year-old just 17 minutes to put the hosts ahead on Saturday night. Beto found himself free of the Milan defence from a simple throughball and finished at the second attempt after goalkeeper Mike Maignan and defender Fikayo Tomori had done their best to prevent the goal.
Milan dominated possession throughout what was a low quality match, but Beto had the chance to double his tally in the second half, only to send the ball wide when through on goal. The miss proved costly when Zlatan’s acrobatic finish in stoppage time earned Milan a point, leaving Udinese without a win in five games.
Beto, who beat his forehead in frustration after his missed chance, has developed a reputation for demanding more from himself and his team in post-match interviews. Speaking to reporters after the final whistle on Saturday, the Lisbon-native insisted that while the team showed some positives, improvement is needed to arrest their slump in form.
"I'm angry, we should have won today but we drew right at the end,” he said. “We have worked a lot for this match and even if I am disappointed I am confident because today we have shown that we are a team. Not much has changed with the new coach but now my teammates and I are mentally stronger, and today we entered the field with only one goal: to win.
“Now we will play against two teams [Crotone and Cagliari] who are more on our level and we cannot go on the pitch thinking about Milan, this game is over and we have to do more to win. We haven’t won since the match against Sassuolo and we have to do it because we are not in a brilliant situation, but I trust in my teammates.
“Obviously I always like to score but I also missed a goal in front of the goalkeeper and this must not happen.”
Beto has scored seven goals from just twelve starts since moving to Italy in the summer.
By Sean Gillen
