Milan ended their Juventus Stadium taboo with a thumping 3-0 victory, ending their run of nine consecutive Serie A defeats here and sending the Bianconeri down to fifth place.
These teams went into the weekend locked together in second place with Atalanta, and just two points clear of Napoli, but both those teams already won and the pressure was on in this Champions League play-off.
Federico Chiesa returned after three games out injured and Giorgio Chiellini pushed Leonardo Bonucci to the bench, while Samu Castillejo was suspended.
Matthijs de Ligt’s volley was the first chance in the opening minutes, charged down bravely by Theo Hernandez, with Fikayo Tomori doing the same on Adrien Rabiot.
Giorgio Chiellini got himself in the way of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s long-range strike and Brahim Diaz blasted over at the end of a smart one-touch passing move. The Spaniard also tested Wojciech Szczesny, but it was too central to truly trouble him.
Gianluigi Donnarumma was almost caught in midfield when rushing off his line, but Simon Kjaer cleaned up on Cristiano Ronaldo.
Chiellini turned a free header wide on a corner at the back post, but Alex Sandro had to make a brave and risky defensive header to stop Ibrahimovic tapping in the Theo Hernandez cross.
Another Theo Hernandez cross was deflected, forcing Szczesny to readjust at the near bottom corner, but the deadlock was broken in first half stoppages.
Szczesny did not punch a free kick very far, so Brahim Diaz was able to control with his chest and cut inside to curl a stunning finish into the far top corner. Chiellini was on the line, but simply could not reach it. There was a VAR silent check for possible handball, but the front camera angle showed it was on the chest.
Juve came out fighting after the break, Donnarumma immediately getting down for a one-handed save on Rodrigo Bentancur following the Alvaro Morata back-heel flick.
VAR was called into action when Brahim Diaz had another effort charged down by Chiellini’s outstretched arm and inevitably it was a penalty. However, while Franck Kessie has an excellent conversion rate from the spot, this time Szczesny managed to palm it out from the bottom corner and keep Juve in the game. That was only the third time in his career that the Ivorian failed to convert a penalty, the second this season.
Ibrahimovic limped off with a left knee issue, while Brahim Diaz also had an injury. Szczesny had to rush off his line to smother at the feet of Hakan Calhanoglu and after a long period of Juve possession without creating genuine chances, Milan doubled their lead.
Ante Rebic placed a stunner into the top corner with the inside of the right boot from the edge of the area, as Szczesny could do nothing but watch it fly in.
The result was even heavier, as Calhanoglu floated a free kick into the box for Fikayo Tomori’s towering header, out-jumping Chiellini. This was a crucial goal, as it means Milan also now have a better head-to-head record with Juventus, so will be ahead even if they finish level on points, as it ended 3-1 for the Bianconeri at San Siro in January.
Paulo Dybala came off the bench and his curler was deflected over by Simon Kjaer, then his curler skimmed the upright.