Alberto Braglia on Sunday as the sides produced a scrappy
encounter in their first Serie A meeting.
The hosts - only promoted from the third tier of Italian football in
2013 - have already claimed a point off title-chasing Napoli this
term and picked up another solid draw against a Milan attack
that displayed several shortcomings going forward.
Sinisa Mihajlovic saw his side put seven goals past Sampdoria
and Crotone in Serie A and the Coppa Italia in recent days
following blanks against Atalanta and Juventus, but Milan were
well contained by their lowly opponents, who came closest to
breaking the deadlock early on.
Lorenzo Lollo had two good chances in the first half while
Milan's best chances came courtesy of the lively M'Baye Niang.
The hosts kept out a frantic late scramble inside their own
penalty area to secure a sixth home point of the season, leaving
Milan eighth in the table with just two wins to their name on the
road this term.
Carpi named former Milan players Cristian Zaccardo and Marco
Borriello in their XI and began brightly, buoyed by back-to-back
wins over Genoa in the league and Vicenza in the Coppa, but
Lorenzo Pasciuti's early shot was blocked by Mattia De Sciglio,
in for the injured Luca Antonelli.
The visitors stuttered through the opening 10 minutes with Lollo
forcing Gianluigi Donnarumma into a couple of early saves
before two careless touches from Alessio Cerci denied him
separate one-on-ones with Vid Belec at the other end.
Milan grew into the game and edged the final stages of the half,
Riccardo Montolivo and Niang testing Belec, although Alex was
required to produce a superb last-ditch challenge to thwart
Carpi's Kevin Lasagna before the break.
Following his brace against Sampdoria, Niang remained
energetic and saw a dangerous delivery cleared early in the
second half but both sides continued to lack quality in the final
third.
Mihajlovic's side dominated possession after the hour but were
woefully short of ideas in the final third, with the Milan boss
waiting until the 68th minute to reshuffle his forward pack and
introduce Luiz Adriano for Cerci.
Giacomo Bonaventura forced Belec into a routine save from a
free-kick before missing the target with another set-piece soon
after.
Niang saw another cross blocked by Gaetano Letizia with Luiz
Adriano and Carlos Bacca waiting in the box following a quick
counter but the visitors returned to San Siro with just a point
despite having their best period of pressure in the final stages.
Alex saw a thumping header saved spectacularly by Belec while
efforts from Bonaventura and Luiz Adriano were blocked thanks
to brave Carpi defending in a frenetic goalmouth scramble that
added to Milan frustrations.
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