AC Milan on Sunday hammered runaway Serie A leaders SSC Napoli 4-0 in an incredible performance which slammed the brakes on their opponents’ charge to a first Serie A title in more than three decades.
Rafael Leao outshone Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the battle of the wing wizards with a brilliant brace, while Brahim Diaz and Alexis Saelemaekers netted the other goals for the rampant defending champions who moved up to third place.
The biggest win of the Serie A season for Stefano Pioli’s side was also a third league defeat for Napoli, whose huge lead at the top of the table has been cut to 16 points after second-placed SS Lazio beat AC Monza 2-0 earlier.
Photo: Reuters
A difficult year has left Milan 20 points off the pace, but they have struck first blood in a trio of matches against Napoli which conclude this month with the UEFA Champions League quarter-final between the two Italian teams.
“It’s an incredible feeling, but even if I hadn’t scored today, we still played very well,” Leao said after his first goals since mid-January.
Napoli were without injured star striker Victor Osimhen, but an otherwise first-choice lineup was humbled by Milan, who have boosted their chances of qualifying for the Champions League next season.
However, Milan are only a point above local rivals Inter and AS Roma, who sit fifth on goal-difference following their 3-0 win over UC Sampdoria.
“It’s only the first step ... we have another 10 matches left in the league in which we need to have the same attitude,” Pioli told DAZN. “We threw away chances in the past and that can’t happen any more. I’m happy with the win, but it’s only one game. For this to be a good season we need to be playing in the Champions League next season.”
Diaz was at the heart of Milan’s fast start and it was his delightful pass which slipped through Leao and allowed the Portugal winger to dink the away side ahead in the 17th minute.
The home fans were stunned into near silence eight minutes later after more brilliant play from Diaz, who collected Ismael Bennacer’s cross before cutting inside Mario Rui and then lashing in from close range.
Napoli struggled to get anything out of a well-drilled Milan and Leao struck again just before the hour mark, showing why he is so important to his team by bursting past Amir Rrahmani and smashing a powerful finish into the top corner.
With Napoli reeling, Saelemaekers took advantage of more sloppy defending, dribbling through weak tackles and nutmegging goalkeeper Alex Meret to cap a perfect night for the seven-time European champions.
Pedro’s low finish in the 13th minute and a sensational free-kick from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic 10 minutes after halftime gave Lazio their fifth win in six league matches at Monza.
Milinkovic-Savic’s goal was his first since scoring against Milan in January and his 65th for Lazio, making him the club’s highest-ever foreign goalscorer.
“It’s been a few months that I’ve not played as well as I could have, it’s been a hard period for me, but I give all I can to improve and today finally I scored a goal,” Milinkovic-Savic said.
Roma overcame 10-man Sampdoria in Rome thanks to Georginio Wijnaldum’s header six minutes into the second half, and two late goals from Paulo Dybala and Stephan El Shaarawy.
Netherlands midfielder Wijnaldum struck five minutes after Jeison Murillo was sent off for two bookable offenses and then won the penalty from which Dybala scored his 10th league goal of the season with a minute remaining.
El Shaarawy swept home a fine stoppage-time finish to hand Samp their 19th defeat of the season and leave them 10 points behind Spezia, who sit just above the relegation zone and drew 1-1 with fellow strugglers US Salernitana 1919.
Earlier, eighth-placed Bologna increased their hopes of European soccer next season with a 3-0 win over Udinese.
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