Rade Krunic and Diogo Dalot scored in either half as AC Milan beat Hellas Verona 2-0 on Sunday to close the gap on Serie A leaders Inter before their UEFA Europa League trip to Manchester United.
Krunic curled in a free-kick after 27 minutes with Manchester United loanee Dalot doubling the visitors’ account five minutes after halftime to pull Milan three points behind Inter, who were to host in-form Atalanta BC yesterday.
Champions Juventus are four points behind Milan in third, with a game in hand, after claiming their seventh straight win at home, 3-1 against SS Lazio on Saturday.
Photo: AP
Despite the absence of key players, including star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, winger Ante Rebic and defender Theo Hernandez, Milan kept the pressure on their city rivals two weeks after their 3-0 derby defeat.
Ibrahimovic, who has scored 14 goals in as many league games, joined the squad in Verona despite a muscle problem.
“Today we’ve shown that we are there, that we are a team and still believe,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli said. “We are stronger when we’re all together, but we’re also strong with absences. Ibrahimovic arrived before the game, followed the technical meeting, and helped to stimulate us as great champions do. He is a pack leader.”
Rafael Leao started up front in Ibrahimovic’s absence and the Portuguese forward threatened after 15 minutes with a header that went over the bar.
The breakthrough came when Krunic was brought down just outside the penalty area. The Bosnian midfielder dusted himself down and whipped a free-kick past a stunned Marco Silvestri from a tricky angle for his first league goal for Milan.
Defender Dalot also got off the mark in Serie A four minutes after halftime, blasting in an Alexis Saelemaekers cross.
Milan took a valuable three points before they travel to Manchester for the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie with United, before hosting SSC Napoli in the league at the weekend.
Verona, in eighth, fell to their first home defeat since losing to Inter before Christmas.
AS Roma moved up to fourth, one point ahead of fifth-placed Atalanta, thanks to a Gianluca Mancini goal.
Mancini jumped highest to turn in a Lorenzo Pellegrini corner after 24 minutes at the Stadio Olimpico, beating second-choice goalkeeper Federico Marchetti, who replaced Mattia Perrin.
Roma sit nine points behind Inter after the win.
“One more step is missing to beat the big teams, we need to improve because something more is needed to reach the Champions League,” Mancini said.
In Naples, Lorenzo Insigne scored twice with Victor Osimhen adding a third as Napoli consolidated sixth place, three points off the UEFA Champions League berths, with a 3-1 win over Bologna.
Nigerian Osimhen returned after taking a knock to his head two weeks ago, coming off the bench eight minutes after halftime.
A minute’s silence was observed before kickoff after the death of Mirko Pavinato, captain of the Bologna side who won the league in 1963-1964.
Insigne opened the scoring after eight minutes, latching onto a Piotr Zielinski back-heel.
Osimhen scored eight minutes after coming on and was involved in Insigne’s second 12 minutes later just after Roberto Soriano had pulled a goal back for Bologna.
Bottom side Crotone ended their seven-match losing streak with a 4-2 win over relegation rivals Torino.
The Turin club’s previous two games, against US Sassuolo and Lazio, were not played because of a COVID-19 outbreak at the club.
Cagliari pulled two points clear of third-bottom Torino with a 2-2 draw at UC Sampdoria.
Crotone are one point behind second-bottom Parma, who stretched their winless run to 17 games after defender Simone Iacopini turned into his own net just before the final whistle to hand ACF Fiorentina a 3-3 draw.
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