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In a week dominated by Champions League football, AC Milan were eager to forget about their 3-2 loss to Barcelona on Wednesday as they tried to revolutionise their position in Serie A.
Unsurprisingly, they did so in style with a 4-0 win over Chievo on Sunday, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic continuing his classy form this term.
Milan have constructed a theory to keep the pressure on league leaders Juventus, and now they can start to build on the practice – trial and error it won’t be – as Ibrahimovic paves the way forward.
The striker scored his 100th and 101st goals in Serie A with his double against Chievo at San Siro.
Thiago Silva, who captained Milan on the night, opened the scoring. The Brazilian surged forward and thundered home from Kevin-Prince Boateng’s assist. It was then time for Ibrahimovic to dampen any Chievo threat as he promoted his side’s Scudetto aims with a stunning finish after being set up by Alberto Aquilani.
A show of radiant football by the champions as they continued to stride forwards against a lifeless Chievo side and then came a poacher’s strike by Alexandre Pato and an Ibrahimovic penalty as Milan were up 4-0 at half-time.
It stayed that way after the interval – mission accomplished for Massimiliano Allegri’s men who showed fresh and vibrant play after a tough European week.
Perhaps Milan’s win was a response to Juventus’ continued transformation this season.
Placed under the authority of Antonio Conte in the summer, Juventus maintained their course of unity and hope as they overcame Lazio 1-0. Their win in Rome arrived courtesy of Simone Pepe – written off by many in the summer when he was close to leaving, but he has certainly redefined ambition in Turin as we discovered last week against Palermo [3-0].
The Italy international burst forward in typical fashion as he finished Alessandro Matri’s low cross to rupture Lazio hopes and keep Juventus on top of Serie A with a game in hand against Napoli on Tuesday.
Down the other end of the table, Inter maintained visibility with their second consecutive win this term as they overcame battling Siena 1-0. However, it was a scrappy affair in Tuscany and some would argue the victory was unjustified as Inter were clearly not at their best.
Claudio Ranieri’s side were far from sound as the home side at the Artemio Franchi came out firing with noise, but no smoke.
Inter looked fragile and inexperienced at times, but the scramble for points arrived when second-half substitute Luc Castaignos, who stood up when others started to lie down, grabbed a 90th minute winner – his debut goal in Italy – to earn his team maximum points and ease Ranieri’s concerns for now.
OTHER SCORES
Udinese 2-0 Roma; Lecce 0-1 Catania; Novara 2-1 Parma; Atalanta 1-1 Napoli; Cagliari 1-1 Bologna; Cesena 2-0 Genoa; Palermo 2-0 Fiorentina.