Milan suffered a setback in its endeavor to secure a qualifying position for the Champions League next season, by falling to its host Spezia, which is threatened with relegation, 0-2, on Saturday, in the thirty-fifth stage of the Italian Football League.

And Milan’s suffering continued this week after he entered the match in the wake of his 2-0 fall against his neighbor and “guest” Inter at the San Siro stadium in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals, before the upcoming return match at the same stadium on Tuesday.

Spezia scored the first goal a quarter of an hour before the end, when Frenchman Kelvan Amiens' header bounced off the post, returning to Poland's Primislaw Visniewski, who followed it into the net.

Salvatore Esposito eliminated Milan's hopes of equalizing the score when he doubled his team's lead with a wonderful free kick and settled the ball in the top right corner (85).

The Rossoneri's balance froze at 61 points in fifth place, two points away from Inter, who will host Sassuolo later, and four from Lazio, who tied with Lecce 2-2 on Friday at the opening stage.

Roma (58 points) will be able to catch up with Milan in the event of its victory at Bologna on Sunday, while Atalanta failed to narrow the screws by falling to its host Salernitana 1-0 on Saturday, to freeze its score at 58 points.

The second Juventus (66) will have the opportunity to get closer to the Champions League when it hosts Cremonzie on Sunday.

As for Spezia, he kept his hopes of staying among the adults, raising his score to 30 points in the eighteenth place, equal with the seventeenth Verona, which hosts Turin on Sunday, and two points away from the sixteenth Lecce.

Milan played the meeting with several absences, most notably the Algerian international midfielder Ismail Ben Nasser, after his club announced Thursday that he had to undergo knee surgery, as a result of an injury he suffered during the loss against Inter.

Milan did not announce the period of Ben Nasser's absence, but he confirmed to AFP that he would not play again this season, while the newspaper "La Gazzetta dello Sport" reported that the Algerian's absence period ranges between 3 and 4 months.

The Portuguese Rafael Leao also missed the match, similar to the Inter match, after he was injured last week during the victory at home to Lazio in his right thigh.

Liao is Milan's most powerful offensive weapon in the past two seasons, and led him to the Serie A league title last year.