AC Milan labour for three points against SSC Napoli
AC Milan held onto the second place in the Serie A when Massimiliano Allegri's team defeated SSC Napoli 2–1 on Monday, 25 October.
Milan created a two-goal cushion courtesy of goals from Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic before Ezequiel Lavezzi produced a fine lob to reduce the deficit late in the second half.
"Tonight, we put together a good performance," Allegri told TuttoNapoli.net after the win. "They tried their best to equalise, but we needed to take advantage of the spaces left open by our opponents.
Robinho showed his liveliness in attack with 15 minutes played, as the Brazilian strolled across the Napoli defence and unleashed a low shot from outside the box that Morgan De Sanctis had no trouble parrying.
Robinho puts Milan ahead
Seven minutes later, the striker scored Milan's first goal in style. Picking up a square ball from Ibrahimovic, Robinho fed Massimo Oddo on the right flank, and the Italian returned the ball for the 26-year-old
to place the ball in Di Sanctis' left corner with a well-placed drive from inside the box.
After Milan's opener, Edinson Cavani broke clear on the left, but as the striker broke into the Milan box he could only send his right-footed shot high and wide of Christian Abbiati's goal.
Napoli continued to pressure, but the team's finishing did little to trouble the Milan keeper. Even so, Walter Mazzarri's team produced more openings than Milan, whose lead was beginning to look fragile.
Alexandre Pato pounced on a defensive mistake with 32 minutes gone, but the Brazilian could only fire over after opting not to play in Ibrahimovic at the far post.
In the 45th minute of the game, Michele Pazienza handled the ball for a second time, earning him a second booking and reducing Napoli's forces to ten men.
Despite the sending off, Napoli produced one more chance before the interval. Lavezzi connected perfectly with a chipped cross into the box, but his powerful header was impressively pawed away by Abbiati.
In the second half, Ibrahimovic failed to test De Sanctis from inside the box before Abbiati made another diving save, this time from Marek Hamsik's dipping strike on the hour mark.
In the 72nd minute, it was Oddo found more space on the right, this time hitting an inch-perfect cross towards Ibrahimovic who, unmarked in front of goal, produced a strong header that Di Sanctis could
only steer into his own net.
Lavezzi's finish too late to make a difference
Napoli pulled a goal back when Lavezzi, lying down in the box after a tussle with Sokratis Papastathopoulos, lobbed it over Abbiati with neat flick of the ankle. His spectacular effort finally saw the
Milan keeper beaten, but it seemed too late for Napoli to earn a point.
Substitute Mathieu Flamini and Robinho forced saves from Di Sanctis in the final 15 minutes as Milan held on to protect their lead and collect their fifth league win of the season ahead of their clash
with Juventus on Saturday, 30 October.
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