Alessio Romagnoli on Sunday scored the only goal after 97 minutes as AC Milan reclaimed fourth place in Serie A amid drama at 10-man Udinese ahead of SS Lazio, who earlier crushed SPAL 4-1 with Ciro Immobile bagging a brace.
Defender Romagnoli fired in the winner amid a scramble in front of goal to add to his midweek winner against Genoa, for a confidence-boost ahead of next weekend’s visit by champions Juventus to the San Siro.
“I know it burns to lose in the last minute,” said Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso, whose side have won three league games in the past week after losing the Milan derby to Inter following a dramatic Mauro Icardi stoppage-time winner.
Photo: EPA
“I liked really our performance and attitude. We arrived with injuries and suffered, but deserved this victory,” added Gattuso after Milan kept their first clean sheet of the campaign.
AC Milan and Lazio both have 21 points from 11 games, with Gattuso’s side occupying the final UEFA Champions League spot on goal-difference.
The two teams are 10 points behind leaders Juventus, who continued their unbeaten run with a 3-1 win over Cagliari on Saturday.
Milan suffered an early blow when Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain was forced off after 35 minutes with a back problem and was replaced by Samu Castillejo.
“Higuain felt a twinge in his back, but it doesn’t seem to be anything serious,” Gattuso said.
Earlier, Lazio bounced back from last week’s 3-0 home defeat to Inter.
“We had to redeem ourselves after the knockout against Inter,” said coach Simone Inzaghi, whose side are now five points ahead of city rivals AS Roma, who were held 1-1 by ACF Fiorentina on Saturday. “Today’s three points are very important for us in terms of ranking. The lads remained united and compact without suffering the psychological backlash [of defeat to Inter].”
Italy international Immobile volleyed in the first after 26 minutes off a Danilo Cataldi corner, past SPAL goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, brother of SS Lazio midfielder Sergej, who was also playing at the Stadio Olimpico, but the celebrations were short-lived with Mirco Antenucci tapping in the equalizer two minutes later.
Felipe Caicedo then broke through the SPAL defense and set up Immobile, whose shot took a deflection off Filippo Costa over the SPAL goalkeeper.
Blunders by SPAL defender Everton Luiz allowed Cataldi and Marco Parolo to break through in the second half, but Immobile was denied a hat-trick by the woodwork.
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
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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