Miserable Milan remains in a mire
MILAN — AC Milan’s crisis deepened as it was humiliated 3-0 at struggling Hellas Verona in Serie A on Sunday.
Elsewhere, Juventus won 3-0 at Bologna to leapfrog Inter Milan into second spot, a point behind leader Napoli.
“We have to apologize and understand why these things happen. We were embarrassing,” Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso said.
“I think that until Verona doubled its lead, we did well and even deserved to score. Then, as often happens, we collapsed after the first moment of difficulty.
“We don’t manage to react or if we do, we seem confused and messy. I don’t like this. The embarrassment remains, now we have to look forward.”
It has been a difficult month for Milan, which has won just two of its five matches since Gattuso replaced Vincenzo Montella as coach.
Milan also had its bid to end a financial fair play investigation rejected by UEFA on Friday.
One of the few positive notes was its progression to the quarterfinals of the Italian Cup with a 3-0 win over Hellas on Wednesday.
However, Hellas was to avenge that defeat at Stadio Bentegodi and move one point from safety.
Andrea Caracciolo broke the deadlock in the 24th minute when he headed in a corner off the crossbar.
Milan had several chances to equalize but was denied by an imperious Nicolas in goal for Verona.
The host doubled its tally 10 minutes after the interval when Daniel Bessa burst down the left and pulled back for fellow substitute Moise Kean to slot past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Milan tried to get back into the match but Hellas sealed the points in the 77th with a rapid counterattack as Romulo raced down the right side before crossing for Bessa to tap in.
Milan’s misery was complete in stoppage time when forward Suso was shown a straight red card after a video review of his stamp on midfielder Daniele Verde.
Pjanic power
Miralem Pjanic inspired Juventus to a comfortable 3-0 victory at Bologna, despite the absence of key players through injury, including captain Gianluigi Buffon.
Juve’s Argentine star Paulo Dybala was dropped for the second successive match because of poor form.
Bologna started brightly but Juve took the lead in the 27th minute when Pjanic curled a trademark freekick into the top left corner.
Pjanic turned provider nine minutes later with a precise ball over the top for Mario Mandzukic to control on his chest and fire home.
Blaise Matuidi scored his first goal in Italian soccer shortly after the hour when he pounced on a poorly cleared Alex Sandro cross to drive the ball into the bottom left corner.
Juve has kept four straight clean sheets in the league since losing at Sampdoria last month and never looked in trouble at Bologna, despite Dybala’s omission.
The Argentine was benched again amid rumors of personal problems that have affected his form.
The 24-year-old was brought on with 15 minutes left, but despite forcing a smart save from Mirante, looked a shadow of the player that helped fire Juve to the Champions League final last season.