Despite Massimo Ambrosini's dismissal, Milan fought back from a goal down to beat Roma 2-1 at the Stadio Guiseppe Meazza with Alexandre Pato's strike and a soft penalty converted by Ronaldinho.
This was the moment of truth for both sides, as Leonardo risked the sack after just three Serie A wins and the Giallorossi faced their first big test on Claudio Ranieri's watch, having won three of the last five games. Important stars were out for both sides, as Francesco Totti did not recover from a knee injury in time, so stayed home with Juan, Marco Motta and Julio Sergio, but Alexander Doni made his first appearance in six months.
Milan missed Marco Borriello, Gennaro Gattuso, Oguchi Onyewu, Christian Abbiati and Marco Storari, so Nelson Dida made his comeback. Ronaldinho partnered Alexandre Pato in a new 4-4-2 system.
Roma had won on their last three trips to San Siro and within 150 seconds had taken the lead at San Siro when Jeremy Menez intercepted an awful Thiago Silva backpass to go clear on goal and side-foot to send Dida the wrong way. It could've been worse, as the defender tried to pull his shirt and risked a red card.
Moments later Menez did exactly the same thing, bursting through the middle and this time Dida smothered the shot.
Milan tried to fight back, but Pato's first touch let him down and a Massimo Oddo effort was deflected out for a corner. Menez had penalty appeals for a tussle with Thiago Silva, but seemed to lose his balance when firing wide from seven yards.
Daniele De Rossi surged forward from midfield and smashed an angled drive from 20 metres that Dida fingertipped round the post.
Ronaldinho curled a free kick over the bar. Pato failed to turn in the box and the ball came out to Andrea Pirlo for a high strike. Seedorf fired wide after a poorly cleared free kick.
Roma continued to be extremely dangerous on the counter, as Mirko Vucinic burst between two defenders on Simone Perrotta's cross and fired straight at Dida's legs at the near post.
Incredibly, from that corner Milan had their first real chance of the game on 38 minutes. Pato surged forward from end to end, the ball ricocheted around and Seedorf smacked a shot against the upright from nine yards, then Massimo Ambrosini ballooned the follow-up over the bar.
The Rossoneri were jeered off the field at the half-time whistle. Pippo Inzaghi replaced Ignazio Abate and within 70 seconds he had very nearly scored the equaliser. Pirlo whipped in the corner for his bullet header from six yards, which David Pizarro cleared off the line at the near post.
There was controversy on 55 minutes when a set play came to Alessandro Nesta and Burdisso went in with a sliding tackle. The referee awarded a spot-kick, but it looked as if the Roma defender might've got the ball. Ronaldinho took a stuttering run-up to beat Doni despite the goalkeeper guessing the right angle.
John Arne Riise hit one of his trademark thunderbolts from distance, which Dida parried with an outstretched leg. Milan should've gone 2-1 up on a classic counter sparked by Pato, but he cut in for an unbalanced Seedorf to poke it wide with the aid of a deflection.
Pirlo's awful free kick allowed Roma to go on the counter, but Ambrosini did just enough to stall Rodrigo Taddei.
Milan took the lead with Pato scoring a wonderful goal. Ronaldinho skipped between three players in midfield and placed the searching pass over he top for Pato to dribble round Doni and deposit into an empty net.
Inzaghi went clear on goal, but was a little harshly halted and booked for a push on Burdisso. At the other end Dida meekly parried a Perrotta snapshot and was fortunate nobody was ready to tap in the loose ball.
Stefano Guberti came off the bench and his dangerous cross was turned out for a corner before Julio Baptista could pounce. Baptista's overhead kick turned into an assist for De Rossi, but the midfielder smashed over under pressure from Thiago Silva.
Doni spilled a Seedorf blockbuster, but got it back before Inzaghi arrived for the tap-in. However, Milan were reduced to 10 men for the final 10 minutes when Ambrosini received a second booking for jumping with his elbow raised on Burdisso.
Yet a minute later they nearly scored a third, as Ronaldinho robbed Riise to thread through for Pato, but the teenager's touch let him down. Mathieu Flamini replaced Ronaldinho to bolster the midfield.
Guberti's angled drive took a deflection, but not enough to confuse Dida. In stoppages Pizarro's free kick led to a couple of shots charged down in Roma's last chance to level the scores.
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