MILAN, Jan 15: Without the suspended José Mourinho and injured Paulo Dybala, Roma fell 3-1 at AC Milan in Serie A on Sunday and lost ground in the race for the top four and a Champions League place.
It was a victory made in France for Milan as Yacine Adli netted an early opener before compatriot Olivier Giroud doubled the Rossoneri’s lead in the second half.
Giroud also delightfully set up another Frenchman in Théo Hernandez to seal the match six minutes from time after Leandro Paredes had reduced the deficit with a penalty.
Milan remained third, while Roma was ninth, five points below fourth-place Fiorentina, after a fourth loss in seven matches for Mourinho’s team.
Both Milan and Roma were looking to bounce back from being knocked out of the Italian Cup midweek.
Mourinho was suspended for the match after being sent off against Atalanta last weekend but he was still jeered by Milan fans when he was shown on the big screen at San Siro. Roma was also without key forward Dybala, who was sidelined with yet another muscular problem.Milan took the lead in the 11th minute when Adli managed to carve out space for himself to drill the ball into the bottom right corner for his first goal for the club.Hernandez clipped the woodwork and Christian Pulisic – who had been given the player of the month award for December before the match – twice went close, while Roma also had chances to level.
But it was Milan which doubled its lead in the 56th as Adli’s cross to the back post was nodded back to the center of the area by Simon Kjær for Giroud to head in from point-blank range.Roma got back into the match 13 minutes later with Paredes’ penalty after Lorenzo Pellegrini was tripped by Milan captain Davide Calabria.
However, Milan sealed the result with a sumptuous piece of play as Hernandez played a one-two with Giroud, who found him again with a brilliant backheel for the defender to blast in off the underside of the crossbar. (PTI)
