MY ACCOUNT
Brahim Diaz netted a delightful individual goal after Fikayo Tomori had scored a contentious opener, as Milan beat rivals Juventus 2-0 at San Siro.
Spain international Diaz charged towards the Juve goal after picking up the ball in his own half to double the home side’s lead early in the second half of Saturday’s Serie A clash.
That came after Tomori had made the breakthrough in first-half stoppage time, though Juventus felt there was a foul in the build-up to the corner from which the defender scored.
Despite being without a number of key men, including goalkeeper Mike Maignan, Milan saw out the win to inflict fresh pain on their former head coach Massimiliano Allegri.
Rafael Leao clipped the right-hand post with a back-heel flick with 20 minutes played and hit the other post soon after, this time with a powerful drive from outside the box.
Milan took the lead before the interval through Tomori, who got in the way of Olivier Giroud’s goal-bound shot but turned the loose ball past Wojciech Szczesny from a few yards.
Juve were unhappy the goal stood due to a strong challenge from Theo Hernandez on Juan Cuadrado, but VAR could not intervene as it happened in a previous phase of play.
Diaz doubled Milan’s lead as he intercepted a Dusan Vlahovic pass a few yards inside his own half, knocked the ball past a couple of Juve defenders and powerfully fired home.
What does it mean? Juve winning run halted as Rossoneri rise
Milan were poor in their midweek Champions League loss to Chelsea – a second defeat in three games in all competitions – but they responded well against Juventus.
The Rossoneri move level on points with pacesetters Napoli and Atalanta, who are both in action on Sunday, with this their sixth win in nine league outings this season.
As for Juve, they have failed to win any of their opening four Serie A away games for only the second time in the past 40 seasons and could drop into the bottom half on Sunday.
Diaz doubles up
Juve’s defending for Diaz’s goal was atrocious, from Vlahovic’s loose pass to Leonardo Bonucci’s failed attempt at a foul and then Szczesny’s weak hand at the end of it.
Diaz is one of the three Spanish players to have scored more than one Serie A goal against Juventus, along with Jose Callejon and ex-Inter player Luis Suarez (three each).
Dusan’s San Siro struggles
Not only did Vlahovic gift the ball to Diaz for his goal, the Serbia international also failed to have any sort of impact on the game in an attacking sense.
He failed to have a single shot and is now scoreless in four games at San Siro – only at Sassuolo’s Mapei Stadium (four) has he played as many Serie A games without scoring.
Key Opta facts
– Tomori has scored both of his two Serie A goals against Juventus. He is one of three English players who have scored more than one goal against Juventus in Serie A, along Gerald Hitchens (three) and Tammy Abraham (two).
– Juventus are the only opponent against whom Brahim Díaz has scored more than one goal in Serie A (two).
– Massimiliano Allegri has lost his first ever Serie A match against Stefano Pioli, in the 17th encounter between the two managers in the competition.
– Adrien Rabiot made 10 recoveries this match, at least three more than any other Juventus player. The Frenchman has never done better in a single Serie A match.
– Olivier Giroud played his 50th match with AC Milan considering all competitions. He has scored the most goals (19) among the Rossoneri since his debut last season.
What’s next?
Both sides switch focus back to the Champions League on Tuesday, with Milan at home to Chelsea and Juventus away at Maccabi Haifa.
