AC Milan made it six wins in a row in all competitions with an impressive 2-1 victory against Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Saturday night.
The three goals in the game were scored inside a frantic seven-minute period in the second half. The first came from Ruben Loftus-Cheek as he finished from close range after Rafael Leao’s feed to get his ninth goal of the calendar year.
Fiorentina then equalised when Alfred Duncan was given the freedom of Florence to run forward and fire into the bottom corner, but Tijjani Reijnders put Rafael Leao through on goal and he sat the goalkeeper down to restore the advantage.
That would be enough for Milan to seal the three points and in the process move six ahead of Juventus, who were beaten late on by Lazio earlier in the evening.
Head coach Stefano Pioli made four changes to the team that beat Hellas Verona before the break with Alessandro Florenzi coming in for the suspended Theo Hernandez, Malick Thiaw partnering Fikayo Tomori, Samuel Chukwueze getting the nod over Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud returning to lead the line.
Milan started the game on the front foot, and Milenkovic did brilliantly to cut out a low cross from Tijjani Reijnders that Giroud was ready to fire on goal. From the resulting corner, the French striker headed over from a good position.
Giroud was again left to rue a missed opportunity in the eighth minute when Chukwueze did brilliantly to spin his man and provide a cut-back which was met with good contact but ended up straight in the hands of Terracciano.
Rafael Leao began to get himself more involved as the minutes ticked by, and he managed to shimmy his way into the box and into a good shooting position, yet he bent his effort wide of the far post as he fell over while he hit it.
Leao then turned the provider for his fellow wingman Chukwueze, standing up a gorgeous cross for the Nigerian whose header was saved by Terracciano. He was called into action from the corner that followed, parrying a shot against Leao before Belotti cleared it off the line, though the offside flag did seem to be up.
Fiorentina’s first big chance came just before the half-hour mark when Ikone slipped Belotti through in behind, though his first touch took him wide and Mike Maignan made a good save. Ikone then lashed a shot into the side netting from the corner when he should have done better, and moments after that Tomori did well to block a shot from Belotti after a bad giveaway at the back.
Terracciano was called into action a couple more times when Reijnders fed Leao who got a shot away from a narrow angle that he stopped fairly easily while Chukwueze wanted the cut-back, then Reijnders had a shot of his own that looked a weak effort but was turned around the post.
The penultimate chance of the first half fell to Leao, who took up the position of centre-forward at times with Giroud dropping deeper. A direct free-kick found his run in behind and the Fiorentina keeper saved well with his legs to deny the low shot on the spin.
Probably the best opportunity of the opening 45 minutes fell to Giroud, who hit a cut-back from Leao first time over the bar despite perhaps even having time to take a touch and pick his spot from around the penalty spot.
Pioli decided to make a change at the break, with Matteo Gabbia coming on for Thiaw given that the German was booked in the first half.
Milan took the first chance of the second half, and it was Ruben Loftus-Cheek who got his ninth goal of 2024. A header from Leao found Chukwueze out wide and his low cross looked easy for clear for Milenkovic, but he slipped and that allowed RLC to eventually set himself and fire into a virtually unguarded net.
Fiorentina equalised less than three minutes later and it was a sloppy goal to concede. Duncan picked up possession inside the Milan half and was allowed to stroll forward to just outside the edge of the box, picking out the bottom corner with a lovely shot that he was in acres of space to get away.
Parity would not last long when Milan’s advantage was restored as Leao went from provider to scorer. Reijnders played a brilliant through ball to the former Lille man who strode through on goal and sat Terracciano down with a drop of the shoulder, leaving an empty net to tap the ball into.
Pioli opted to make a couple more substitutions just after the hour mark, with Reijnders and Leao – arguably the two best players to that point – coming off for Yunus Musah and Noah Okafor.
Maignan was called upon to make a one-handed save to deny Belotti’s shot from the edge of the box as the home side set about trying to get themselves back level.
La Viola continued to knock on the door and had the upper hand going into the final 20 minutes, with Maignan again making an excellent stop this time to deny Mandragora who had latched onto a long throw that wasn’t dealt with and lobbed a shot goal-bound.
Another alteration came for Milan with 17 minutes left on the clock as Christian Pulisic came on for Chukwueze. He nearly made an instant impact too when he was put through on goal by Musah and fired into the bottom corner, yet the offside flag was raised as the pass was a bit late.
The final change came inside the final 10 minutes as Luka Jovic came on against his former club, taking the place of Giroud.
Fiorentina had one final chance three minutes into the five added with a header from Gonzalez that was straight at Maignan, and that came after Loftus-Cheek got a yellow card for a stray arm that means he will miss the Lecce game.
