Olivier Giroud, Junior Messias and Rafael Leao netted for AC Milan while Tammy Abraham's goal proved to be just a consolation for AS Roma.
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AC Milan defeated AS Roma 3-1 in the Serie A fixture at San Siro on Thursday. Milan went into this game decimated as they missed 12 players due to COVID-19, injuries and African Cup of Nations. Olivier Giroud opened the scoring for the hosts from the penalty spot before Junior Messias doubled the lead. Although, before the break, Tammy Abraham pulled one back for the hosts, substitute Rafael Leao sealed Milan’s victory with a late third. The win helped Stefano Pioli’s side to close the gap on leaders Inter Milan, who have a game in hand, to just one point
?⚫ @acmilan wins against @ASRomaEN and gets 3️⃣ important points ??#MilanRoma #SerieA? #WeAreCalcio pic.twitter.com/5vIgrBUS30
— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) January 6, 2022
Fikayo Tomori, Alessio Romagnoli, Davide Calabria, Samu Castillejo and Ciprian Tatarusanu were infected with Coronavirus while Simon Kjaer, Pietro Pellegrini and Alessandro Plizzari were out injured and, Franck Kessie, Ismael Bennacer and Fodo Ballo-Toure away on Africa Cup of Nations duty.
Roma goalkeeper Rui Patricio was forced to make a brilliant save inside the opening eight minutes as a corner was cleared to the edge of the box and Theo Hernandez unleashed a sensational first-time volley. However, upon reviewing it on the VAR monitor, it was clear Abraham had moved his arm towards the ball and gazed at it. The referee rightly awarded the penalty to the hosts. Giroud stepped up and converted the spot kick to give the lead to the home side.
Few minutes later, Roma defence committed yet another error as Roger Ibanez’s poor back pass gave the ball possession back to Milan. Junior Messias laid the ball to Giroud on the right side of the penalty area, whose shot hit the post, but the rebound was slotted home by Messias to double the lead.
Meanwhile at the other end, Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan was tested by Nicolo Zaniolo at the near post before the Frenchman made an extraordinary save with his head when Zaniolo’s strike was redirected by Abraham. On the resulting corner, it was a repeat but this time the 26-year-old could do nothing as Pellegrini’s shot from outside the box was flicked by Abraham before ending up inside the goal.
After the break, Brahim Diaz’s rocket shot from outside the box rattled the crossbar. Maignan had to get down quickly to deny Abraham before Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s long-range effort was tipped over the bar.
16 minutes from time, Rick Karsdrop received his second yellow card for bringing down Hernandez just outside the box, reducing the visitors to 10 men. Alessandro Florenze hit the woodwork from the resulting free-kick.
Milan deservedly got their third of the night in the 81st minute. Substitute Zlatan Ibrahimovic chested down a long ball in the midfield to send Rafael Leao racing forward towards goal before firing past Patrico to regain the two goal cushion.
Milan could have had their fourth of the night as Gianluca Mancini received his second second yellow card of the night for hauling down Leao inside the box, but Ibrahimovic’s penalty kick was brilliantly kept out by Patricio. The win helped Milan to 45 points from 20 games while Roma dropped to seventh spot with 32 points.
