The hosts, who had only four draws in their previous six games, were coming off back-to-back thrilling 2-2 matches against Milan and Verona. In addition to Joshua Zirkzee, the Rossoblu were lacking Riccardo Orsolini, Jesper Karlsson, Kevin Bonifazi, Adama Soumaoro, and Oussama El Azzouzi. In the first two minutes, Lukasz Skorupski was stung by a shot from Patrick Dorgu after a corner routine, and Dan Ndoye, who had spun away from Dorgu, tested Wladimiro Falcone at the near post.

Joan Gonzalez's fierce attempt was blocked, but he had a great chance to score when he surprised Victor Kristiansen at the far post and poked the Dorgu cross wide with his six-yard effort. Ndoye raced past Dorgu to test Falcone at the near post once more, and immediately after the restart, Sydney van Hooijdonk snookered a paint chip off the upright.