AC Milan lost further ground to Inter Milan in the Serie A title race after being held to an insipid 0-0 draw by Juventus at the San Siro on Sunday.

On Monday, Stefano Pioli’s side suffered a damaging 2-1 home defeat to Spezia.

But a return to winning ways never looked likely against an unambitious Bianconeri outfit, who failed to register a single shot on target.

The hosts’ woes were compounded when Zlatan Ibrahimovic hobbled off in the first half.

Neither set of players stepped up after that to prevent AC Milan and Juve from drawing both their games in a single Serie A campaign for the first time since the 1991/1992 season.

The stalemate meant AC Milan ended the weekend in third place, four points adrift of leaders Inter Milan having played a game more, while Juve remained in fifth.

AC Milan did most of the pressing in the early stages.

Their best effort came in the 20th minute when Wojciech Szczesny got down well to paw away Rafael Leao’s strike from the edge of the penalty area.

They suffered a blow shortly after the midway point in the first half when Ibrahimovic sustained an injury. He was replaced by Olivier Giroud, with the France international largely toiling in attack before the interval.

The former Chelsea striker saw a header kept out by Szczesny in the 70th minute — one of few chances in a miserable second half.

Juve appeared content to settle for a point for much of the match.

Ex-AC Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri has now stretched his unbeaten run against Pioli as a coach in Serie A to 16 games —- with 11 wins and five draws.

(dpa/NAN)