Four days after its elimination from the Italian Cup by Atalanta (2-1), Milan reacted well by dominating Roma. Yacine Adli opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a shot from the edge of the penalty area for his first goal in Serie A. Roma did well and could have equalized without two decisive interventions from Mike Maignan, ahead of Zeki Celik (30th) and Leonardo Spinazzola (40th).
But Olivier Giroud doubled the lead by heading home a header from Simon Kjaer (56th), for his 11th goal of the season. Leandro Paredes revived his team from the penalty spot (68th), but Roma, without Paulo Dybala, injured, nor his coach Jose Mourinho, suspended, again came up against Maignan like Lorenzo Pellegrini (86th), before Hernandez ensures Milan’s victory with a dazzling recovery in the 84th minute. Thanks to this 3rd consecutive victory, Stefano Pioli’s team consolidated its 3rd place with 42 points.
If it is nine points behind the leader, Inter Milan, winner 5-1 at Monza on Saturday, it is back to four points behind Juventus (2nd), who will play their match of the 20th day on Tuesday against Sassuaolo, and especially distanced its first pursuer, Fiorentina (4th), relegated eight lengths after its draw against Udinese (2-2) on Sunday.
“We really wanted to react after the disappointment of the Italian Cup which was difficult to digest for us and for our supporters,” underlined Giroud. “We don’t think about the two teams in front of us, we only focus on ourselves,” assured the 2018 world champion. “Our goal is to have a better return phase than our first leg, we could have had more points,” added his coach. Roma fell to 9th place (29 pts).
Bologna, a surprise team in the first leg, lost 2 to 1 at poorly ranked Cagliari. Fourth in the standings after the 17th day, Bologna is now 6th (32 pts) and has only pocketed one point in its last three matches. During this period, the team coached by Thiago Motta was also eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup by Fiorentina (0-0 ap, 5 tab to 4).
“Our season is always positive, we have done extraordinary things, we never thought we would be so well ranked, but the period is a little more complicated and we have to continue working,” admitted Motta.
At midday, Lazio defeated Lecce 1-0 thanks to Felipe Anderson and jumped to 5th place, their best ranking of the season, with 33 points. Like Naples, reigning Italian champion, Inter, winner of the 2023 Italian Cup, and Fiorentina, unfortunate finalist of the Coppa Italia, Lazio will fly to Saudi Arabia to compete in the Super Cup. Italy (January 18-22). A new four-way formula for the event and a long journey which does not please Maurizio Sarri at all: “This tournament has nothing to do with sport, we go there to get money, then we come back” , asserted the coach of the Italian vice-champions.