AC Milan and Fiorentina have played out a 1-1 draw in this evening's Serie A clash at the San Siro, Josip Ilicic cancelling out Nigel de Jong's first-half opener.

The hosts had the best of the early exchanges as Ignazio Abate's cross in the third minute connected with Jeremy Menez, whose shot cleared the crossbar.

Abate and Sulley Muntari had more chances to break the deadlock in the eighth minute, but both had shots blocked before they could reach the goal.

Aside from an Alberto Aquilani shot that was blocked on the quarter-hour mark, Fiorentina were largely toothless in the early stages of the first half.

In the 25th minute, Milan took the lead when Cristian Zapata's headed flick-on following a corner fell to De Jong, who made no mistake with a close-range header into the bottom corner.

Juan Cuadrado and Jasmin Kurtic pushed forward in a bid to find an equaliser, but the hosts were able to hold their advantage into the break.

The Rossoneri started the second half strongly, with Andrea Poli forcing a corner then firing wide from outside the box.

Menez then forced a save with a header moments later, but Fiorentina then went up a gear and launched forward, attacking Christian Abbiati's goal through Aquilani and Matias Fernandez.

Eventually, the Viola got themselves back into the game when Ilicic, played in by Cuadrado, tucked the ball into the bottom corner of the net midway through the second half.

Milan strove to retake the lead after conceding, but Stephan El Shaarawy was unable to find the target on two occasions in the ensuing minutes.

Despite laying siege to the Fiorentina goal, Filippo Inzaghi's charges had to settle for a point come the final whistle.