AC Milan consolidated their third-place position in the Serie A standings with a 2-1 win over rock bottom Chievo Verona on Saturday.
Milan took the lead through a stunning Lucas Biglia free-kick, but Perparim Hetemaj’s header insured the sides went in level at half time.
Gennaro Gattuso’s side grabbed the leader back in the second-half in controversial circumstances; Krzysztof Piatek stabbing home and VAR confirming he hadn’t committed a foul in the build up.
The Rossoneri began the game on the front foot, and could have netted inside 11 minutes when a well-worked move was skied over by Suso.
Four minutes later Franck Kessie had an opportunity to break the deadlock as he got past his man, but he couldn’t find the back of the net from a wide angle.
In the 21st minute Biglia did incredibly to find Samu Castillejo with a switch pass, but the Spaniard shot wide.
He was also arguably wasteful moments later as the home sife gave Milan a great chance; Castillejo and Piatek only needed to beat the remaining defender, but the former failed to find the striker.
Just after the half-hour mark Milan took the lead though, as Biglia swept in a stunning free-kick from around 25 yards out – beating a rooted Stefano Sorrentino.
WHAT A GOAL! BIGLIA WITH AN INCH PERFECT FREE-KICK pic.twitter.com/700D8itK0s
— MilanGifs (@MilanGifs) March 9, 2019
The home side drew level just before the break though. A cross from Mehdi Leris on the right side found Hetemaj inside the box, and the Finland international directed a precise header past Gianluigi Donnarumma into the bottom left corner.
Five minutes into the second-half the home side gave another reminder of their threat as Mariusz Stepinski forced Donnarumma into a save inside the box.
Despite the pressure from the home side, it was Milan who retook the lead just before the hour mark. Piatek didn’t connect with an overhead kick inside the box, but was on hand to turn in Samu Castillejo’s headed feed from around eight yards out.
GOOOOAAAALLL! PIATEK! pic.twitter.com/66utc2wywi
— MilanGifs (@MilanGifs) March 9, 2019
Milan should have added to their advantage with just under 20 minutes left as Castillejo failed to find Piatek with a feed inside the ball, but replays showed the Spaniard was offside anyway so any goal wouldn’t have stood.
Kessie could have secure the points for Gattuso’s side in the 75th minute, but the Ivorian rolled his effort wide from just inside the box after a nice pass from Suso on the counter.
It should have been 3-1 in the final minute of normal time as Alessio Romagnoli was found by a Hakan Calhanoglu cross, but the defender couldn’t direct his effort goalwards from inside the box.
