AC Milan took care of business on Sunday lunchtime as they beat relegation-threatened Empoli 3-0 at the Stadio Carlo Castellani.
In truth the majority of the work was done in the first half as Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s lovely strike put Milan ahead in the opening quarter of an hour, then Olivier Giroud converted a penalty to double the lead heading into the break.
After netting in the Coppa Italia on Tuesday night for his first senior goal for the Rossoneri, Chaka Traore came off the bench to add a third in the closing stages and make it a comfortable win in the end.
It is a win which opens up a bit of space after Fiorentina and Bologna dropped points earlier in the round, with Atalanta-Roma to follow in a few hours and Juventus still to play.
Stefano Pioli made a number of changes from the heavily rotated side that beat Cagliari in midweek, with Mike Maignan, Simon Kjaer, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christian Pulisic, Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud coming back in.
Milan had the first opening of the game in the second minute when Leao’s run earned a corner that was taken short, and Tijjani Reijnders found space to shoot just inside the box yet dragged it wide of the near post.
Maleh had Empoli’s first shot of the game from a free-kick that was laid off into his path about 30 yards out, however his shot was always slicing wide of Maignan’s right post.
In the 11th minute, Milan’s early pressure did result in the opening goal of the game. An attack down the left flank saw Leao play a nice cut-back to Loftus-Cheek who was unmarked on the edge of the box, finding the far corner with an excellent first-time finish.
The mission then became to try and exploit an uneasy atmosphere at the Castellani to try and double the lead, and Theo Hernandez wasn’t far from doing so after one of his now-usual box-to-box runs, though this one ended with a shot straight at Caprile.
In the 32nd minute, Milan were getting ready to take a corner after Loftus-Cheek’s attempted overhead kick deflected behind, but VAR spotted it had brushed the raised hand of Maleh and a penalty was awarded. Giroud took on the responsibility, and found the back of the net via the underside of the bar.
There was a worrying moment a few minutes later when Florenzi pulled up gingerly having felt a tweak in his thigh, and he came off as a precaution (according to Sky) with the Real Madrid loanee Alex Jimenez replacing him.
The first yellow card of the match went to Calabria after he scythed down Cambiaghi just outside the Milan box, but the wall stood firm and blocked the attempt.
There were a couple of half-shouts for a penalty towards the closing stages of the first half. The first was another potential handball from a corner that was rightly waved away, and then Leao went down near the byline under pressure from Gyasi but replays showed he tried to oversell the contact.
The opening exchanges of the second half were conditioned by a pitch that was fast becoming waterlogged, but Loftus-Cheek was close to doubling his tally with a long-range shot after a brilliant run by Jimenez.
Caprile made a very good save to deny it being 3-0 just after the hour mark when Leao beat his man to the byline and stood up a cross for Pulisic, whose header was going in but for the intervention.
Leao missed his biggest opportunity to end his dry spell in front of goal in the league when space opened up for him to shoot on the left edge of the box, though he didn’t wrap his foot around his effort which sailed over and wide.
Virtually every Empoli player went up for a penalty when a free-kick was rolled to the edge of the box for a first-time shot that was blocked behind, though replays showed Theo’s arms were tucked in.
Shortly after, a couple of changes were made as Calabria and Loftus-Cheek made way for Davide Bartesaghi and Yunus Musah. That meant Jimenez shifted to right-back, with Bartesaghi at left-back.
Milan had already coughed up two two-goal leads away from home this season and the hosts began to push for a goal to get back in it. Maignan did well to deny a shot from Cancellieri from a narrow angle, and the rebound was crucially blocked wide by Theo.
Inside the final ten minutes Pioli made his final two changes with Matteo Gabbia and Chaka Traore coming on, while Kjaer and Leao made way for them.
Milan finished with a flourish, and after scoring his first senior goal in the cup in midweek, Chaka Traore got his first Serie A goal. A corner from Empoli was cleared and Pulisic burst through on the counter, running the ball almost the length of the pitch before unselfishly rolling it to the Ivorian, who settled himself and curled the ball inside the far post.
