Torino were once again indebted to captain Kamil Glik as his late equaliser earned the Granata a deserved point against 10 men AC Milan on Saturday evening.
Daniele Padelli retained his place in goal, but Emiliano Moretti and Bruno Peres both returned to the starting eleven as expected. There was no emotional return for Alessio Cerci against his former club, as the winger was left on the bench by Milan coach Pippo Inzaghi.
Toro made the worst possible start, as they conceded a penalty within three minutes as Kamil Glik was adjudged to have pulled Jeremy Menez's shirt in the area. The Frenchman stepped up to take the penalty himself and slammed it straight down the middle to give Milan the lead.
The home side responded well, and Diego Lopez had to make good saves to first deny Alexander Farnerud, and then Fabio Quagliarella. Alessandro Gazzi came close to levelling the scores, but he somehow failed to make contact with Emiliano Moretti's header across goal.
The Granata continued to create chances, and this time it was Matteo Darmian who was through on goal but his header hit the post. At the other end, chances were few and far between but M'Baye Niang almost silenced his critics by scoring a spectacular goal, but after pirouetting past two defenders, he curled his shot over the bar.
The turning point of the game arrived of the stroke of half time, as Mattia De Sciglio was dismissed after receiving a second yellow card - both of which for fouls on Matteo Darmian.
Torino continued to miss a number of chances, with Josef Martinez, Fabio Quagliarella and Marco Benassi all missing great chances to pull Toro level. But with less than ten minutes remaining, captain Kamil Glik, who is now Torino's top scorer, headed home from a corner to earn Toro a point.
This was a pleasing performance from Toro who were the better team throughout but will be disappointed that they did not win the game considering the number of clear cut chances there were.
There were a number of banners and songs at the game last night that called for Urbano Cairo to leave the club, and if the Toro president does not adequately reinforce the squad during this transfer window, then those dissenting voices will become louder and louder.
Forza Toro
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