Calcio: Milan takes control
AC Milan took advantage of the draw between Naples and Inter Milan (1-1) on Saturday to temporarily take the lead in Serie A, whose 4th place gave rise to a great battle without a winner on Sunday evening between Atalanta and Juventus (1-1). A goal by Rafael Leao (8th) against Sampdoria (1-0) was enough for the Rossoneri to take a point lead over the Nerazzurri (2nd), who however have a game in hand, and two over Napoli (3rd) , on the 25th day. “It’s a perfect week, difficult to do better than that,” commented AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali at the end of this week which saw the Rossoneri beat Inter (2-1) in the derby. , to qualify for the semi-finals of the Italian Cup by crushing Lazio (4-0) and passer in the lead. Despite the absence of Theo Hernandez, suspended, the Rossoneri still struck on the left side, their strong point: on a clearance by goalkeeper Mike Maignan, Rafael Leao, in great form at the start of the year, escaped to transplant and open the mark. Milan then managed, without managing to take shelter. The fault of the excellent Genoese goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone, impeccable on his line, in particular on an acrobatic scissor from Olivier Giroud. “Matches can also be won 1-0, we left almost nothing to our opponent, it shows that the team has reached a good stage of maturity”, welcomed coach Stefano Pioli. However, Inter remain favorites for the scudetto, assured Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri after the draw in Bergamo. “With all due respect to Milan and Naples, for me it is Inter who win because they are the strongest team”, he reached, assuring that his Juve was only aiming for 4th place, preserved in extremis in added time. Danilo, with a header from a corner (90 + 2nd), responded to Ruslan Malinovoskyi’s opener with an overpowered missile (76th), allowing the “Old Lady” to keep two steps ahead , even if the “Dea” (5th) has a game late. A lot of pressing and chances on both sides, but also goalkeepers with boiling gloves, punctuated this shock. Bergamasque goalkeeper Marco Sportiello pulled out all the stops in front of Dusan Vlahovic and his vis-à-vis Wojciech Szczesny also made a decisive save in front of Martin De Roon. But this deleted match could not end in a 0-0. And Juve had the merit of finding the resources to come back after the opener which could have knocked them out a quarter of an hour from the end, also helped by the bar (84th). The battle for the C1, Roma (7th, 6 pts from Juve) remains far from it after a draw which was difficult to snatch in additional time on the field of Sassuolo (2-2). “It’s not the result we wanted,” admitted José Mourinho, while denying tensions in his team: “We may be limited, I can be, but no one can say that we are not we are not united.”