Staff Reporter.
(Reuters) – AC Milan secured a 2-0 win over rivals Juventus with goals from defender Fikayo Tomori and midfielder Brahim Diaz in a spirited Serie A clash at the San Siro on Saturday.
Tomori made it 1-0 just before the break when he followed up a shot by Olivier Giroud and rifled the ball into the roof of the net, sending Juve goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny the wrong way.
Diaz doubled Milan’s lead in the 54th minute when he took advantage of Dusan Vlahovic’s mistake and raced towards Juve’s goal, finishing off a solo effort with a brilliant strike.
Milan provisionally moved up two places to third in the standings on 20 points, level with leaders Napoli and second-placed Atalanta who both have a game in hand.
Juventus remain eighth on 13 points.
Meanwhile Edin Dzeko’s 100th and 101st Serie A goals gave injury ridden Inter Milan a 2-1 victory away at Sassuolo on Saturday.
The 36-year-old became the third-oldest player to reach the milestone behind Goran Pandev and Sergio Pellissier, according to OptaPaolo.
The Bosnian international has been playing up front for Simone Inzaghi’s squad while both Romelu Lukaku and Joaquin Correa are out injured, and he showed that he still has the quality to fill the role.
Sassuolo took the initiative in the first 15 minutes, chasing their third league win in a row. Inter tried to create room in the midfield but had trouble with a well-coordinated Sassuolo defence playing high up the field.
Dzeko put Inter in front in the 44th minute when the ball bounced to his feet from a corner, and he volleyed it in.
Sassuolo were the better team for most of the second half and pressured Inter, looking for weak points in the defence for an equaliser.
After several half chances, Sassuolo’s Davide Frattesi equalised in the 60th minute when, standing unmarked, he volleyed in a cross from Rogerio. Inzaghi’s expression of horror neatly summed up the failure of his side’s defence to mark the Italian international.
The goal shocked Inter, and they moved into a higher gear at the end of the game. Sassuolo keeper Andrea Consigli made a world-class save in the 75th minute when he tipped the ball out of harm’s way after a Lautaro Martinez header. Only a minute later, however, a cross from substitute Henrikh Mkhitaryan into the box found Dzeko, who secured the win with a controlled header.
Inter are seventh in Serie A on 15 points having played one game more than the teams above them, and they are five points behind leaders Napoli. Sassuolo are in ninth place.