AC MILAN AT THE SUMMIT OF SERIE A TABLE AFTER BEATING LAZIO IN AN EMPHATIC COME BACK VICTORY.
Sandro Tonali’s injury time winner completed a remarkable turnaround, building on Olivier Giroud’s second-half equaliser after an early Ciro Immobile strike, and allowing AC Milan to regain the lead in their search for their first Scudetto since 2010/11.
The ‘Biancocelesti’ ultras were absent from the Stadio Olimpico Curva Nord, in a protest towards owner Claudio Lotito’s admission prices. They would be left regretting that decision minutes into the game, as Immobile struck his 26th of the season, again showing the classic poacher’s instinct in beating Pierre Kalulu to the ball, to meet Sergej Milinković-Savić’s perfectly weighted cross. The goal makes the veteran striker only the fourth player across Europe’s five biggest domestic leagues to score over 25 goals in three or more seasons since 2016/17.
Milan needed a hero possessing vast experience of dealing with deficits, and while the Rossoneri’s number nine Giroud had found the net just once in his last 10 games prior to kick-off, he should have done better when guiding Brazilian Junior Messias’ left-footed cross wide from a central position. He was then seen berating teammate Rafael Leão as he fired into the side netting, with Giroud begging for a square ball and a tap in.
Giroud’s frustration abated just minutes into the second half though, as Leão made up for his earlier faux pas by laying the ball on a plate for the Frenchman, who scored only his second away goal after Leão showed too much pace for Francesco Acerbi. The ‘Rossoneri’ threw everything at their hosts after going level, and it took until the 92nd minute for the Lazio defence to again be thwarted as Tonali poked home following a Zlatan Ibrahimović knock down.
With Lazio being undefeated in 28 of their 30 prior Serie A home matches, Milan know that they have claimed a massive scalp tonight. The Scudetto title race is still all to play for, but with their final four fixtures all coming against top-10 sides, Stefano Pioli’s men know that their quest to turn the Scudetto’s ribbons from Inter blue to Milan red has truly only just begun.
