Ronaldo was the inspiration as AC Milan ended their dismal winless home run with a 5-2 victory over Napoli on a dream night at the San Siro on Sunday.
Ronaldo was playing only his second match of an injury-plagued season but scored a brace as he partnered debutant teenage sensation Pato in a new-look Brazilian attack that included world player of the year Kaka.
Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti finally got the firepower that has been missing from the team at home in the league this season, as Pato and Kaka also got their names on the scoresheet.
In their previous seven matches -- five draws and two defeats -- Milan managed just three goals, but they had doubled that tally 30 seconds into the second half against Napoli.
Ronaldo gave the hosts the lead on the quarter hour, latching onto Andrea Pirlo's clever through ball to fire home off goalkeeper Gennaro Iezzo's legs.
Milan were dominating but Napoli were dangerous on the counterattack and soon levelled through Roberto Sosa, who converted fellow Argentine Ezequiel Lavezzi's right wing cross.
Ronaldo then tried to turn provider, twice teeing up Pato with just Iezzo to beat but the keeper denied him both times before Clarence Seedorf smashed home the follow-up.
Maurizio Domizzi then leveled from the spot after Georgia center back Kakha Kaladze's clumsy challenge on Lavezzi in the box, sending the teams in at halftime all square.
But just after the restart Seedorf picked out Ronaldo to head home from close in.
Kaka scored midway through the second half with a crisp shot from the edge of the box and minutes later Pato opened his account after racing clear and finally beating Iezzo in a one-on-one.
Elsewhere, Francesco Totti and Alessandro Mancini fired a goal apiece to rally Roma and grab a 2-1 victory at Atalanta that keeps their title hopes alive.
Things looked desperate in Atalanta for Roma when Adriano Pinto put the hosts ahead on 17 minutes.
But Totti rifled home a free kick under a jumping wall on 38 minutes and Mancini's rasping drive on the stroke of halftime proved enough to secure three vital points.
Champions and leaders Inter Milan cruised to a 3-2 win at lowly Siena and when Roma fell a goal behind, it looked as if the title race could be over.
Instead the capital-based club pegged Inter's lead at the top to seven points.
Inter's Sweden forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a brace, including one from the spot, and Esteban Cambiasso added the other as the unbeaten leaders won for the 14th time in 18 league matches this season.
In the race for Champions League places, fourth-placed Udinese kept their noses in front after a solid 1-0 win at Cagliari while Fiorentina triumphed 2-1 in Parma.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later