Adrien Rabiot’s rocket was cancelled out by Cas Odenthal, as Milan were held to a 1-1 draw by Sassuolo, with Matteo Gabbia stretchered off in tears.
The Rossoneri went into the break for international duty with a successful change of tactics to the four-man defence in a 3-0 victory over Lecce, but lost Alexis Saelemaekers for several months to ankle surgery. Luka Modric was rested and Matteo Gabbia given his first start, as Diego Moreira and Christian Pulisic lined up behind Goncalo Ramos.
The Neroverdi followed their thrilling 3-2 win over Juventus with a shock defeat to Monza, as injuries piled up for Cristian Volpato, Jay Idzes, Sebastian Walukiewicz, Ismael Koné, Daniel Boloca and Edoardo Pieragnolo.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
It was the first start of the season for Gabbia, and might be his last appearance for a while, because the defender went in at full stretch as Armand Laurienté sprinted away and seemed to hyper-extend, suffering a bad left thigh strain. He was unable even to stand and had to be stretchered off in tears, making way for Koni De Winter.
Play had barely resumed when it stopped again, this time for Fedde Leysen to hobble off having badly sprained his knee, replaced by Cas Odenthal.
The first real chance came on 32 minutes, when Adrien Rabiot nodded the Diego Moreira free kick over the bar.
They had a double opportunity just before the break, as first Diego Moreira stung Arijanet Muric’s gloves at the near post, then Goncalo Ramos saw his header palmed over from a Samuel Chukwueze cross.
Moreira forced another parry from Muric after turning between two to get the shot away from 12 yards, then the goalkeeper denied a Strahinja Pavlovic header at the back post.
Luka Modric replaced booked Estupinan for the second half, moving Moreira to full-back. Vasilije Adzic completed a give and go with Domenico Berardi to draw a save out of Mike Maignan, while Josh Doig volleyed the Berardi cross over the bar.
Milan broke the deadlock when Rabiot sprung the offside trap on a Modric through ball and surprised Muric with a ferocious strike into the roof of the net at the near top corner, though the Sassuolo goalkeeper should not have been beaten from that angle.
The hosts threatened moments later, Maignan making a tough save on Kieron Bowie, then smothering the Kristian Thorstvedt follow-up flick.
Sassuolo equalised when an Armand Laurienté corner was flicked on and Cas Odenthal poked in from seven yards through a sea of legs.
It was suddenly wide open, Muric rushing out to stop Samuel Chukwueze meeting the Pulisic through ball, while substitute Alphadjo Cisse’s curler was palmed away.
Sassuolo had the ball in the net on 88 minutes when Thorstvedt fired in the loose ball from five yards, but the whistle had already gone for the Bowie push on Ramos.
The hosts had the last chance of the game, Maignan plucking the Thorstvedt strike out from under the crossbar.
Sassuolo 1-1 Milan
Rabiot 63 (M), Odenthal 68 (S)
Player statistic
| 41' | Pervis Estupiñán | |||
| 45+3' | Koni De Winter |
| 63' | Adrien Rabiot (Assist: Luka Modric) | |||
| Cas Odenthal |  |
68' | ||
| 87' | Gonçalo Ramos | |||
| Kristian Thorstvedt | 90+4' | |||
| 90+1' |  |
Strahinja Pavlovic |
