AC Milan claim top spot in Serie A
AC Milan climbed back to the top of Serie A after a hard earned victory against Inter Milan in the
Derby della Madonnina at the San Siro.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic settled the tie from the spot as early as the fourth minute, and despite playing the last half hour of the match with ten men, the Rosseneri came away with a prized win over their fierce city rivals.
The result means that Milan are now above Lazio in the table, while Inter are six points adrift of the new league leaders.
Milan’s attack had to be reshuffled as Alex Pato and Pippo Inzaghi were out injured, which meant that Robinho started alongside Zalatan Ibrahimovic.
The match started with a bang and the Rosseneri were awarded a penalty after just four minutes.
Marco Materazzi brought down Ibrahimovic inside the box and it seemed a fair call from the referee, even the Nerrazuri defender didn’t even protest the call.
The Swede then stepped up to take the penalty and blasted the ball past Luca Castellazzi, who was deputizing for the injured Julio Cesar.
Milan did not stop venturing forward, despite taking an early lead, and could have doubled their advantage in the 13th minute when Ibrahimovic beat the offside trap beautifully and squared the ball to Matthieu Flamini. Inter’s Ivan Cordoba however
the stole the ball off his feet with a perfectly timed tackle.
Ibrahimovic looked in inspired form and and was in acres of space inside the box just minutes later but his lobbed pass was cleared by Materazzi.
Inter were looking out of sorts, as on 29 minutes the Swede went close again and his stinging volley only just went over the crossbar.
Rafa Benitez then brought on Philippe Coutinho in place of Joel Obi to give his side a more attacking look. Only then did Inter look to have come up to pace with the slick passing play of the Rosseneri.
Genarro Gatusso was lucky not to have been sent off when he brought Wesley Sneijder down just outside the box. The resulting free kick brushed the side netting, much to Milan’s relief.
On the hour mark Milan defender Ignazio Abate received his marching orders after receiving a second yellow card following his tackle on Goran Pandev. It seemed like an unnecessary risk to take, especially since Luca Antonini was waiting to replace him on
the touchline.
Robinho then had to be sacrificed for his team as Antonini came on for the striker. Inter were starting to claw their way back into the game.
The Nerazzuri launched attack after attack in the last half an hour of the match but Milan held on for a crucial win.
In the other matches of the night a sublime hat trick by Javier Pastore saw Palermo win the bragging rights in the Sicilian derby over Catania. They now move three points clear of their city rivals in seventh spot.
In another match Sampdoria and Chievo both fired blanks and had to settle for a drab nil-nil draw.
Bari’s misery in the Serie A continued as they slumped to a home defeat to Parma. They only had themselves to blame though, after they missed a penalty earlier in the game.
Antonio Candreva scored the only goal of the match to give his side only their second win of the season.
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