AC Milan suffered a big blow to any Scudetto hopes they might have as they were beaten 2-0 by Napoli at San Siro on Tuesday night.
Both of the goal came in the first half for the visitors as Romelu Lukaku got the opener with a typical powerful run and finish, before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia doubled the advantage just before the break in a half that Milan otherwise dominated.
Alvaro Morata’s offside goal was the closest that the Rossoneri got to putting a dent in Napoli’s lead as the saw out the second half with relative comfort, padding out their lead at the top of the table.
Milan fall 11 points behind Antonio Conte’s side as a result of the defeat and although they have a game in hand, the feeling is that the title train has left the station without them.
Paulo Fonseca made six changes to the starting line-up from the team that beat Club Brugge a week ago, but four of them were forced. Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders were suspended while Matteo Gabbia has a calf issue and Christian Pulisic was suffering from flu. Malick Thiaw, Strahinja Pavlovic, Filippo Terracciano, Yunus Musah, Samuel Chukwueze and Noah Okafor all got the nod.
Napoli start the game on the front foot and breached the Milan box inside three minutes with a quickly-taken free-kick, though Lukaku was on hand to help the defensive effort by blocking Kvaratshkelia’s shot.
Less than five minutes into the game, the league-leaders too the lead and it was Lukaku who returned to haunt Milan. The Belgian striker made a run between the two centre-backs, received the through ball from Zambo Anguissa, shrugged off Pavlovic and finished into the bottom corner.
The response from Milan was good as they pressed Napoli high up the pitch and forced them to give the ball away in their own half. One such occasion was in the 17th minute, ending with Musah cutting onto his right foot inside the box and curling a shot narrowly wide.
A minute later Meret was forced into his first save of the game, with Chukwueze letting fly from a central area 25 yards out and drawing a parry from the Italian between the sticks.
The pressure from the Rossoneri continued. Loftus-Cheek did well to shrug off a challenge and feed Emerson Royal on the right, who whipped a low shot that curled just wide of the far post.
Milan were presented with a golden opportunity to level the game when a stray pass as Napoli attempted to build out from their own box landed at the feet of Musah. The American midfielder would’ve had just the goalkeeper to beat but his first touch let him down and it was scrambled clear.
It was chance after chance falling Milan’s way, and Morata could have perhaps volleyed on goal rather than his eventual mid-air back heel flick towards Musah after a nice ball in behind. Moments later, a cross from the right side met the head of Loftus-Cheek yet Meret read it well and kept it out of the bottom corner.
Napoli provided a reminder of what a second goal would do 10 minutes before the break when Maignan had to desperately claw away a Di Lorenzo cross that was bending in, while Politano fired wide of the near post from the resulting clearance.
Two minutes before the break, the sucker-punch came as Napoli rather undeservedly made it 2-0. Kvaratskhelia hadn’t scored in six previous meetings with Milan, but he broke that duck with a precision shot into the far right corner after cutting inside onto his right from the left wing. Maignan, on reflection, could have perhaps done better with it.
Milan thought that they had got themselves into the game very early in the second half when Morata rose highest over Buongiorno to head into the bottom corner, yet the celebrations were cut short by VAR who spotted that he was marginally offside as the cross came in.
Not long after McTominay had spurned a chance to put Napoli out of sight, Fonseca made two changes just after the hour mark. Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao were the players who came on, with Emerson and Okafor making way. Musah shifted to right-back.
The game settled into a pattern whereby Napoli would cede the wings to Milan and allow them to send in crosses, and it became apparent that Conte’s side were just not going to be beaten.
Milan continued to create moments inside the final 10 minutes, such as when Leao brushed off Mazzocchi and laced a shot that Meret saved over, and when Pulisic’s first-time shot sent Chukwueze’s cut-back over the bar from a good position.
The final change from Fonseca came with just over three minutes left as Francesco Camarda came on for Loftus-Cheek, marking the change to two up front.