Stefano Pioli rues Zlatan Ibrahimovic absence as AC Milan pinch a point against Udinese

Kessie dispatches 97th-minute penalty to cancel out Rodrigo Becao header for Atalanta

AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli gives instructions to Spanish forward Samuel Castillejo during the Italian Serie A football match against Udinese at the San Siro. AFP

Udinese's Rodrigo Becao celebrates after scoring against AC Milan. EPA

AC Milan's Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic reacts after the referee granted a last minute penalty to AC Milan. AFP

AC Milan's Italian defender Alessio Romagnoli and Udinese's Spanish forward Fernando Llorente go for a header. AFP

AC Milan's Portuguese forward Rafael Leao. AFP

AC Milan's French midfielder Souhaliho Meite outruns Udinese's Brazilian defender Samir. AFP

AC Milan's Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic watches the action from the sidelines. AFP

AC Milan's Franck Kessie scores a 97th-minute penalty. Reuters

Udinese's Spanish forward Fernando Llorente challenges AC Milan's Ivorian midfielder Franck Kessie. AFP

AC Milan's Ivorian midfielder Franck Kessie and Udinese's North Macedonia forward Ilja Nestorovski go for the ball. AFP

An image in memory of late Fiorentina player Davide Astori. EPA

AC Milan's Franck Kessie with Udinese's Ilija Nestorovski after the match. Reuters

AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli admitted his side missed the presence of injured top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic after needing an injury-time equaliser to secure a 1-1 draw against Udinese in Serie A on Wednesday.

The Rossoneri struggled to create chances against well-disciplined opponents happy to sit deep and defend.

Franck Kessie held his nerve to dispatch a 97th-minute penalty after Rodrigo Becao headed the visitors in front midway through the second half.

Ibrahimovic picked up a muscular problem during Sunday's 2-1 win over Roma that ruled him out of the clash, while Mario Mandzukic was also unavailable through injury.

Pioli deployed 21-year-old winger Rafael Leao through the middle, but the coach was left unimpressed by the performance of the Portuguese.

“I always expect a lot from my players. Rafa’s characteristics are more adapted to attacking spaces,” Pioli told DAZN.

“He doesn’t have the craftiness yet to anticipate the defender when he comes up against defences that are as closed as this.

“Today we were missing the right characteristics to take on this type of match, we were missing the two true strikers in our squad. Leao and [winger Ante] Rebic have other characteristics."

Ibrahimovic will miss Milan's trip to his former club Manchester United in the first leg of their Europa League last 16 tie, but of greater concern is the club's dip in form domestically.

Milan have picked up four points from their last four league games and leaders Inter now have the chance to go six points clear at the top of the table by beating relegation battling Parma on Thursday.

Milan are second with 53 points, while Udinese are 11th with 29 points.

"It’s two points dropped, but there are a lot of games to go," Milan goalscorer Kessie told DAZN.

"We need to raise our game because we didn’t do well. We should have managed possession better, because they were camped behind the ball.

"A game like this can happen, but we need to lift our heads back up now because we’re playing every three days.”