AC Milan bounced back to winning ways with a 4-0 thrashing of Parma at the San Siro on Saturday to maintain their grip on the Serie A leadership.
Coming into the game off the back of two straight draws and only two wins in their previous six league games, Milan were starting to come under pressure from the chasing pack, notably a revitalized Inter and surprise package Napoli, and second-placed Napoli remained hot on their heels three points back as league top scorer Edinson Cavani bagged a brace to down AS Roma 2-0.
Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri claimed, though, that the Rossoneri have never been under pressure.
Photo: AFP
“Obviously [the last two draws] added weight to the voices talking about a crisis and gave hope to those chasing us, but there was never a critical moment because in both those games the only thing lacking was the result,” Allegri said. “The lads did really well.”
First-half goals from Clarence Seedorf and Antonio Cassano, his first for the club, put the game to bed before the break. Substitute Robinho then scored a second-half brace to emphasize Milan’s superiority.
“We played well and played a great game, and I’m also happy because my goals helped us win,” Robinho told SkySport before looking ahead to tomorrow’s Champions League clash against Tottenham Hotspur. “They’re a great team, but we want to win everything, we’re not looking at other teams. We’re only thinking about playing well and I think we can win the title.”
Milan were on the charge from the off, with Seedorf forcing visiting goalkeeper Antonio Mirante into a diving save from a rasping drive in the first minute.
Parma could not handle Milan’s attacking flair and on eight minutes, Zlatan Ibrahimovic played Seedorf in behind the defense and he rounded Mirante and slotted home on the slide.
The second came on 17 minutes after a delightful exchange with Cassano coming in from the left, playing the ball inside to Gennaro Gattuso and taking his dinked reverse pass over the Parma defense to slot low into the corner on the half-volley.
Milan were rampant and it could have been more just after the half-hour mark. Ibrahimovic nodded the ball back down for Cassano, but his shot was tipped away for a corner.
Cassano then chipped the ball over the defense for Ibrahimovic to take down on his chest and volley goalwards, but Mirante came to his side’s rescue.
Parma offered almost nothing in attack, with only a misdirected header from Milan centerback Thiago Silva troubling his own goalkeeper, Christian Abbiati, just before halftime.
Parma were a much improved outfit in the second period, with Sebastian Giovinco’s shot being charged down by the returning Alessandro Nesta. Blerim Dzemaili then had a fierce shot from distance parried by a diving Abbiati, before Massimo Pacci failed to make contact from close range with the goal begging, but just as the visitors were enjoying their best period of the game, Milan made it four.
Robinho arrived unmarked on 61 minutes to finish after Cassano tried to tee up Ibrahimovic, then the Brazilian fluffed his lines when running on to a cross from Ibrahimovic, but he made no mistake moments later as Cassano ran at the defense and slipped him in for another precise, clinical finish.
Napoli all but mathematically ended Roma’s title chances by claiming their first win away to the Giallorossi in 17 years.
Cavani opened the scoring on 49 minutes from the penalty spot after Juan had clipped Marek Hamsik’s heel in the area and the Uruguayan finished things off seven minutes from time when he stabbed home Paolo Cannavaro’s cross from close range.
Roma now trail Milan by 13 points, although they have a game in hand.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB