Federico Chiesa at the double to help Juventus end Milan's unbeaten run
Juventus inflicted a first Serie A defeat of the season on league leaders Milan as Federico Chiesa’s double led the Italian champions to an exhilarating 3-1 win at San Siro on Wednesday.
Chiesa fired home a superb opener before Davide Calabria equalised for Milan at the end of an eventful, endto-end first half. But the visitors pulled away after the break as Chiesa curled in his second and the substitute Weston McKennie swept in from close range to consign Milan to their first league defeat since last March, a run of 27 games lasting 304 days.
Stefano Pioli’s side remain top of the table on 37 points, one ahead of Internazionale, who lost to Sampdoria earlier on Wednesday. Juventus rise to fourth on 30 points, but have a game in hand over the three teams above them.
Pioli was forced to play the defender Calabria in midfield after Rade Krunic and Ante Rebic were ruled out following positive Covid-19 tests, adding to an absentee list including Sandro Tonali, Ismaël Bennacer, Alexis Saelemaekers and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Juventus had issues of their own, with Juan Cuadrado and Alex Sandro in isolation and Álvaro Morata injured, but the selection problems did not impact the quality of the opening period.
Chiesa blasted a powerful halfvolley off the post before finding the breakthrough in the 18th minute, when a clever back-heel from Paulo Dybala sent the Italy international through on goal to finish.
Rafael Leão curled a shot narrowly wide and Chiesa had another effort saved before Wojciech Szczesny’s diving save stopped Aaron Ramsey’s clearance from flying into his own net.
Milan hit back four minutes before the break when Leão picked out Calabria in the box and he fired into the top corner. The tempo dropped slightly in the second half and Juventus took control on 62 minutes when Chiesa curled a left-footed shot into the bottom corner.
The winger was forced off after hurting himself in the process, but the strength of the Juve bench showed when two replacements combined for their third. Dejan Kulusevski weaved into the box from the wing and laid off a pass to McKennie, who was left with a simple finish from six yards.