AC Milan had a test of their top four credentials at San Siro on Saturday afternoon and they passed it, beating Lazio 2-0.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews) writes thus morning, the Rossoneri had only one option against the team from the capital: win in order to stay in the race for the Champions League spots.
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They did so rather comfortably in the end, not only beating but ‘annihilating’ Lazio and stopping them creating anything, also thanks to Mike Maignan.
However, the Rossoneri’s satisfaction was undermined by Rafael Leao’s injury, one of the worst misfortunes that could happen to Pioli in view of the double derby in the Champions League, but also the delicate match against Spezia.
With yesterday afternoon’s success, Milan climbed to fifth place while waiting for the result in Juventus-Atalanta. The Rossoneri have halved the gap to Lazio and have kept pace with Inter, who yesterday easily won against Roma.
In doing so, Pioli’s team rejoined the Champions League train, also taking advantage of a positive but discontinuous moment. The last defeat dates back to March 18 against Udinese, but since then there has been seven consecutive games without one and four clean sheets.
Despite Leao’s injury, which has become the Rossoneri’s only source of play in recent games, Milan laid the foundations for success immediately after he left the pitch.
High pressing with Bennacer who recovered the ball, Giroud then got the assist for the Algerian who shot first time with his left foot. But the real pearl was the 2-0 goal: Maignan fed Theo Hernandez on the edge of the area, who ran 80 meters and saw his left-footed shot deflect in.
