He is the struggling team’s goalkeeper, but his injury-time score sparked wild celebrations and left the opposition manager proclaiming that a knife wound would have been easier to tolerate.
Little wonder that Alberto Brignoli’s historic 95th-minute leveler for little known Serie A side Benevento against Italian giant AC Milan made headlines.
Big-spending Milan was leading 2-1 against the league’s bottom side when Brignoli made a hopeful dash into the opposition’s box and headed home Danilo Cataldi’s free kick.
‘Goalkeeper’s goal’
The goalkeeper’s equalizer earned his team the first Serie A point in its history and ended a record-breaking run of 14 defeats. No team in the history of Europe’s top five leagues has lost more games at the start of the season than the Serie A debutant.
To rub salt into Milan’s wounds, Brignoli — who is on loan from Juventus — later admitted that he knew little about the goal.
“There was nothing to lose. I just closed my eyes and jumped,” the 26-year-old, playing in Serie A for only the ninth time, told reporters.
“It was a goalkeeper’s goal, not a forward’s goal.
“I’m not just happy for me but for everyone. We’ve lost so many games undeservedly with goals in the 90th minute but now it’s our turn to celebrate.”
‘A knife wound would have been less painful’
Manager Gennaro Gattuso was overseeing his first game as Milan boss after replacing the sacked Vincenzo Montella last week.
The draw leaves Milan, which last won a league match on November 5, eighth in Serie A and 18 points behind league leaders Inter Milan.
AC Milan, the seven-time European champion, was expected to be challenging for the title after splashing $265 million on players in the summer.
Milan won the last of its 18 league titles in 2011 and sits tied second on the list alongside Inter and behind defending champion Juventus, which has won the Italian title a record 33 times.
Former Milan midfielder Gattuso told reporters: “It hurts. A knife wound would have been less painful than that goal.
“I would never have expected to concede a goal in the last minute with the opposition goalkeeper scoring.”
