Roma missed the chance to close the gap at the top of the Serie A table to three points this evening having been held to a 2-2 draw by AC Milan at the San Siro.

The visitors almost went ahead after just seven minutes when Gervinho skilfully made his way down the left flank before cutting inside and curling an effort towards goal, but Christian Abbiati was equal to the shot.

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There was nothing Abbiati could do six minutes later, however, as Roma took the lead when Mattia Destro finished off a slick passing move from close range.

Milan responded on the half-hour mark through an unlikely source as Cristian Zapata latched onto a corner that had been flicked on at the front post to stoop down and nod the ball past Morgan De Sanctis.

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Roma almost hit back immediately when Abbiati failed to deal with a cross into the area. The ball fell to Michael Bradley inside the six-yard box, but the American's effort was cleared off the line.

The visitors regained their lead six minutes after the restart when Gabriel, who had replaced Abbiati in goal at half time, brought down Gervinho inside the box. Kevin Strootman stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way with his spot kick to make it 2-1.

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Bradley had another chance to further extend his side's lead with just over 20 minutes left, but he steered his header from Maicon's cross just wide.

Milan equalised for the second time in the match in the 77th minute when Mario Balotelli teed the ball up for Sulley Muntari to fire low past De Sanctis.

Balotelli had a glorious chance to end Roma's long unbeaten record in the dying stages of the match when he cut inside before drilling a shot just past the post.

Gervinho then almost clinched a dramatic win for the visitors at the other end, but he also put his effort the wrong side of the post.