Olivier Giroud redirected a wayward Davide Calabria effort to give Milan a huge victory away to Napoli in the Scudetto race, putting the Rossoneri clear at the top.
This was a head-to-head between the sides who were joint leaders going into this round, though Inter had already leapfrogged them both by beating Salernitana 5-0. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Hirving Lozano were back on the bench after long injury lay-offs, with Kevin Malcuit, Axel Tuanzebe, Alessio Romagnoli, Simon Kjaer and Tiemoue Bakayoko out of action. Franck Kessie was moved into a more advanced role and Stanislav Lobotka made his comeback.
Serie A Liveblog: Super Sunday including Juventus-Spezia, Napoli-Milan
Ismael Bennacer had early penalty appeals, but Kalidou Koulibaly was clearly trying to get out of the way. Napoli too called for VAR after an ill-advised Fikayo Tomori challenge on Osimhen at the by-line.
David Ospina made a sensational reaction save on the Junior Messias header from a Sandro Tonali corner, but the referee stopped play for a foul.
Koulibaly was booked for catching the back of Giroud’s ankle and did real damage, as the Milan striker was bleeding badly from that cut.
Leao tested Ospina from distance, but the deadlock was broken straight after the restart. A free kick was not cleared properly and Davide Calabria’s attempt was woeful, but so poor that it turned into an accidental assist for Giroud to redirect into the net with the inside of the boot.
Osimhen fired straight at Mike Maignan after a give-and-go with Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Leao’s deflected strike also went into the arms of Ospina.
The Napoli goalkeeper got down to palm a Bennacer curler round the far bottom corner from the edge of the box, while Adam Ounas hit a curler just wide of the far post.
Chucky Lozano drilled off target and Osimhen forced a Maignan save at the base of the near post, but Theo Hernandez sprinted away from Koulibaly and stung Ospina’s gloves at the other end.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his comeback with the first appearance since January after an Achilles tendon issue.
Deep into stoppages, Theo Hernandez on the counter rolled across for Alexis Saelemaekers unmarked, but Ospina fingertipped it over the bar.
Napoli 0-1 Milan
Giroud 49 (M)
Forza Milan!!
But I don’t understand why Orsato blew the whistle ten seconds early. I’m not to big a fan of his, the referee.
Tomori challenge on Osimhen was a pen imo. Not to say the milan victory was undeserved, napoli played so bad, my eyes hurt.
But still…Forza Napoli.
@Bury, so was the foul on Bennacer. It was soft, but 100% a penalty if that happens to a Juventus player
@Bury so Napoli should win the match?
Compare the shot attempts, then see if your point stands.
Koulibaly’s attempt on Bennacer should’ve been rewarded by a penalty to Milan. He was moving toward and has a clear challenge on Ben, doesn’t matter his intention or gesture. He should’ve been rewarded by a red too as his challenge on Giroud was late, intentional, he got it through with his studs and hurt Giroud badly. It is a shame that the ref didn’t go to the VAR after seeing the result on Giroud.
@Ranajaya Did you misread his comment or somehing? In no way did he say Napoli should win
@andy
Blablabla yet Milan receive 3 more penalties than Juve this season
Nice that Milan were able to win with 10 men considering Kessie was once again invisible. (Ofc i’m exaggerating but again, I can’t repeat it enough, he was totally on a much lower level than the rest of the team)
Firstly @Dollarumma, what utter nonsense!
Secondly, and more importantly @Juvenesia, if you compare the previous 10 seasons, surely not, however it is completely useless to use this parameter when looking at the penalties, you could imagine an attacking side having many more cases for potential penalties. Anyhow I rarely see Orsato give Milan anything.. yesterday you could argue a penalty, a red and not a yellow in favour of Milan. And possible penalty in the case of Napoli, however shocking that neither was reviewed.
Orsato is a weird referee. Giving a yellow to Giroud in a play that was not even a foul it is really weird. I am not a fan of post-match give or take sanctions, but this yellow should be deleted because it is a blatant mistake…
@J10B i must admit that i did misread
@Dollarumma I know the Kessie situation is painful for us all, but that’s just not true, he was very solid. Probably our best player in the last 15/20 mins.