A touch of brilliance from Zlatan Ibrahimovic earned AC Milan a 1-0 win over Fiorentina on Saturday to lift them four points clear at the top of Serie A.
One week after he had sunk his former teammates at Inter, Ibrahimovic once again proved the match-winner.
On 45 minutes, with his back to goal, the Swede juggled the ball and executed an acrobatic bicycle kick that totally flummoxed Fiorentina goalkeeper Artur Boruc, the ball thudding into the top far corner.
PHOTO: EPA
Ibrahimovic then thumped his chest so hard in celebration he appeared to have injured his arm, but he duly emerged intact for the second half.
AC Milan thought they had won a penalty in the 23rd minute after Per Kroldrup collided with Mathieu Flamini in the box, but the referee turned down their appeals.
On the half hour, Boruc, standing in for long-term injury victim Sebastien Frey, two-fisted Clarence Seedorf’s shot out of danger.
With coach Massimiliano Allegri fielding his three-pointed midfield formation of Gennaro Gattuso, Massimo Ambrosini and Flamini, Milan never produced dream soccer, but they were nevertheless solid and good for the three points.
They maintained their dominance after the break and should have doubled their lead when Alessandro Nesta failed to convert a free header, holding out to move onto 29 points.
Fiorentina finished a man down after Kroldrup was sent off after picking up one yellow card for a foul and then a second for having a verbal joust with referee Antonio Damato seconds from the whistle.
Allegri singled out Daniele Bonera and Flamini for special mention.
“Flamini’s very good, Robinho too was good ... I’m contented,” he said.
Turning to Ibrahimovic’s moment of magic, Allegri added: “That’s par for the course for him to do that. He has other qualities rather than just physical ... I don’t know what Milan would be without him.”
Earlier, a Jeremy Menez-inspired AS Roma beat Udinese 2-0 to move into provisional third place ahead of the remainder of the weekend’s action.
Menez scored a superb solo goal in the 24th minute, before setting up Marco Borriello for Roma’s second in the 56th minute to wrap up the points for the capital club.
The France international’s key interventions enabled Roma to notch up their fifth victory in their last seven games in the Italian top flight.
Roma’s reward was to move up three places into third, on 22 points.
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Friday, defeating top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in straight sets. The fourth-seeded duo bounced back quickly after losing their opening service game, capitalizing on frequent unforced errors by their opponents to take the first set 7-5. Maintaining their momentum in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko broke serve early and held their lead to close out the match 6-4. They are set to face the eighth-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens
Outside Anfield, the red sea of tributes to Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, has continued to grow this week, along with questions over whether Liverpool could play at Preston today, their first game since the brothers’ tragic loss. Inside Anfield, and specifically a grieving Liverpool dressing room, there was no major debate over the pre-season friendly. The English Premier League champions intend to honor their teammate in the best way they know how. It would be only 10 days since the deaths of Jota and Silva when Liverpool appear at Deepdale Stadium for what is certain to be a hugely
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
RSS