Veteran forward Filippo Inzaghi stole the show from David Beckham with a hat-trick as AC Milan returned to winning ways in a 3-0 success over Atalanta at the San Siro on Sunday.
The script seemed to have been written for Beckham to score the winner on the same day that it was announced he would stay at Milan until the end of the season, but instead it was his 35-year-old teammate whose treble proved decisive.
Perhaps more important for Milan, who’ve been in disarray on the pitch recently, going out of the UEFA Cup 10 days ago and losing at Sampdoria in the league last weekend, is that the victory gave them a five-point gap over fourth-placed Fiorentina, who lost 2-0 at home to Palermo.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti said Inzaghi had helped lift the club out of a crisis.
“He gave us a real helping hand. It was a tough match and for most of the first half Atalanta caused us problems,” Ancelotti said. “Then Pippo’s ability to find the right place to be in allowed us to end the match well. We were in a crisis and now I hope that this result has put an end to the crisis.”
Only the top three in Serie A will go straight into next season’s Champions League group stages, with the fourth placed finisher having to negotiate two qualifying rounds.
With his contract uncertainty behind him, Beckham seemed to have a new lease of life and he was even given a free role behind forwards Inzaghi and Pato by Ancelotti.
Beckham initially thrived in that position, dictating the play with his array of passing.
One raking 50m cross-field ball sent Pato scampering away toward goal, while a clever flick with the outside of his boot to find Mathieu Flamini drew gasps and a round of applause from the stands.
His crosses were also causing havoc and it was from one of them that Milan took a seventh-minute lead.
Atalanta failed to clear a dangerous ball in from Beckham and Marek Jankulovski picked up the loose ball before firing it across the box for the unmarked Inzaghi to poke home.
Andrea Pirlo also tried to muscle in on the Beckham show and planted a 30m free-kick onto the roof of the Atalanta net.
The visitors were at times dangerous and Tiberio Guarente forced Christian Abbiati into making a diving one-handed save on the half-hour.
Abbiati was soon called back into action to keep out a Gianvinto Plasmati header at his near post as Atalanta caused problems for Milan’s back line in the air.
After the break, a clever Beckham pass played in Pato, but Andrea Consigli rushed out to block his attempted dink finish from close range.
The fragility of a single goal lead was brought home on 64 minutes, though, when Atalanta’s Brazilian midfielder Ferreira Pinto flashed a shot just past the post.
So it was with as much relief as joy that the crowd cheered Inzaghi’s second on 71 minutes as the goalmouth predator for once beat the offside trap to latch onto Pato’s chip and take the ball around Consigli before slotting home.
And moment’s later, Inzaghi was once again in the right place at the right time to tap in Gianluca Zambrotta’s pass from close range.
After that Ancelotti took both Inzaghi and Beckham off to give the fans the chance to show their appreciation for both players.
Also on Sunday, Serie A top scorer Marco Di Vaio scored a hat-trick as Bologna thrashed Sampdoria 3-0. Siena also won 3-0 away at Catania, Lazio won 2-0 on their travels at Napoli, Chievo drew 1-1 with Cagliari and the game between Lecce and Reggina ended goalless.
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