There were a few commanding victories in the last weekend in Serie A: Lazio pummelled Sassuolo on the road, Napoli tore apart Cagliari and Bologna thumped Genoa, but the shout-out here deservedly goes for Milan for their impressive win at Olimpico against Roma on Sunday night in the most anticipated match-up of this round.
The Giallorossi were coming off three straight wins in the league, but against modest competition and they had lost midweek against Shakhtar. Milan beat Sampdoria last week, the biggest challenger for the sixth spot, and had collected three points in six of their last seven outings.
Gennaro Gattuso has decided to be consistent with his XI and had little reason to change, so he fielded a three-man attack featuring Suso, Patrick Cutrone and Hakan Calhanoglu. Davide Calabria was dealing with some muscle fatigue, but he was able to start at right back.
The Giallorossi were the aggressor early on, but the Devil borne the attacks as the attempts were pretty tame, with Patrik Shick and Cengiz Under unable to really get it going this time. Alessio Romagnoli and company defended diligently all night long.
The Rossoneri broke the deadlock at the beginning of the second half, with Suso finding Patrick Cutrone in the box with a left cross from the right flank: the striker, who is filling his boots in the last month, beat Kostas Manolas to the spot and put it past Alisson with a slick touch.
Milan had clearly more stamina in the second half and were able to counter as Roma tried to equalize. After wasting a pair of good opportunities, with Alisson amazingly denying a robust attempt by Nikola Kalinic from inside the box, they finished off the opponents thanks to a one-two combination between Calabria and the centre-forward, where the right back beat the offside trap and coolly lofted the ball past the goalkeeper, scoring the first goal of his career.
Milan’s notable run continues with this win and they arrive with a full ahead of steam at the derby with Inter. The Nerazzurri occupy the fourth position and have seven points more than the crosstown rivals, so it is not unconceivable for the Rossoneri to enter the Champions League race, especially if they keep up this form.
A lot of loot in the fantasy game: Calabria was the top earner with nine points, Gianluigi Donnarumma followed in with seven, the defenders all got five thanks to the clean sheet, Cutrone and had four, one for the score and the other for the assist, the rest of the midfielders amassed two because they did not conceded and Kalinic garnered four due to the dish.
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