AC Milan 3-2 Lazio
AC Milan are officially Serie A winter champions. The Rossoneri will head into the break on top of the Italian league as they edged out Lazio in a thrilling 3-2 affair at the San Siro.
Milan ran out to an early two-goal lead, but the Biancocelesti battled back to tie it up. However, a stoppage-time winner from Theo Hernandez saw Milan secure all three points.
That goal ensures that the red half of Milan will have a slightly merrier Christmas than the blue one as the Rossoneri maintain their narrow one-point lead over rivals Inter heading into next year.
Highlights of the game
Milan scored the fastest goal in Serie A history last time out against Sassuolo, and they once again got off to a quick start against Lazio.
Hakan Calhanoglu got the first sight of goal after just five minutes. He really should have done better, though, as his shot from the edge of the area flew just over the bar.
But the Turkish playmaker wouldn’t take long to redeem himself as his corner set up Ante Rebic for Milan’s opening goal on nine minutes. It was the Croatian forward’s first goal of the season after scoring 12 in 30 appearances on loan last year.
Rafael Leao, who scored that record goal last week, then forced Pepe Reina to a save just a couple of minutes later. Lazio came right back with Adam Marusic, who just missed the far corner of the goal with his left-footed strike.
Milan thought they’d missed a glorious opportunity to go two up on 15 minutes. Despite a one-on-one opportunity against Reina, Rebic opted to square the ball to Leao, which was cut off by Lazio’s defence. The ball broke back to Rebic, but his shot was again blocked.
However, VAR would award Milan a somewhat harsh penalty as the ball struck Lazio defender Patric’s arm as he was sliding to charge down Rebic’s shot.
With regular penalty taker Franck Kessie out, Calhanoglu stepped up and sent Reina the wrong way to put Milan two goals to the good.
VAR would strike again just before the half-hour mark and award another dubious penalty, but this time in Lazio’s favour as Pierre Kalulu was penalised for a soft foul on Joaquin Correa off a corner.
As expected, Ciro Immobile stepped up to take the penalty, but the Lazio captain surprisingly failed to convert as his shot was saved by Gigi Donnarumma. Unfortunately for the Milan keeper, Luis Alberto was quick to react and headed the ball into the net on the rebound.
Immobile would make up for his penalty miss, though, as he scored Lazio’s equaliser just before the hour mark. The Lazio skipper expertly took Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s lobbed ball first-time to slot the ball past the diving Donnarumma.
Lazio thought they’d done enough to salvage a point, especially after Rebic had a great chance saved by Reina then put another shot agonisingly wide in quick succession late in the match. But it was not to be for the visitors.
Again off a Calhanoglu corner, Theo Hernandez rose up to head home Milan’s winning goal two minutes into stoppage time, sealing their title of winter champions.
Key statistics
Theo Hernandez‘s outstanding season in Milan continues. The French full-back, who also scored in stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw with Parma earlier this month, has been creating Serie A 2020 highlights all season and now has 4 goals and 3 assists in 13 Serie A matches.
Hernandez and Calhanoglu were the chief creators of Milan’s 13 total shots against Lazio, four of which came from Rebic.
Immobile also had 4 shots as Lazio dominated 61 per cent of possession away from home. As SBOTOP had pointed out in the preview to this match, Lazio were a dangerous opponent for Milan. But poor defending from set-pieces ultimately did them in.
What’s next?
Winter champions Milan will have just over a week to rest up before they make an away trip to Benevento on Jan. 3. But just a few days later, they host champions Juventus for a titanic battle that could shift the Serie A 2020 odds for the title one way or the other.
As for Lazio, they will have the perfect opportunity to bounce back from this painful defeat when they return. They will have a relatively easy three-match run that will see them face struggling Genoa (18th), Fiorentina (14th), and Parma (16th) in quick succession. Although, Fiorentina are just coming off a shock 3-0 victory away to Juventus.
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