MILAN, Feb 12: AC Milan piled the pressure on second-place Juventus with its first Serie A victory over Napoli at San Siro in almost a decade.
Théo Hernandez’s first-half strike was enough to give Milan a 1-0 win over the defending champions on Sunday and move it to within a point of Juventus.
The Bianconeri, which lost 1-0 at league leader Inter Milan last weekend, hosts relegation-threatened Udinese on Monday. Inter won 4-2 at Roma on Saturday to open up a seven-point lead at the top of Serie A.
Napoli remained seventh and slipped seven points below fourth-place Atalanta.
Milan had not beaten Napoli in the league at home since 2014, although it had earned victories in the Italian Cup and last year in the Champions League.
Milan took the lead in the 22nd minute when Olivier Giroud spread the ball to Rafael Leão on the left and he played a delightful through ball for Hernandez to run onto and fire into the near bottom corner.
The Rossoneri went close to doubling their lead immediately after the interval but Napoli goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini parried Alessandro Florenzi’s strike and then managed to reach over and grab the loose ball before Giroud could pounce.
Leão almost got on the scoresheet himself – for the first time in the league since September – as he cut inside his defender only to curl the effort just past the right post.
It was end-to-end action at San Siro and Napoli almost equalized late on when Jesper Lindstrøm’s cross was deflected onto the left upright by Milan defender Jan-Carlo Simic and, as the game continued, goalkeeper Mike Maignan produced a fantastic save to push Matteo Politano’s effort over the bar. (PTI)
