Leao seals ‘perfect week’ by snatching top spot for Milan
MILAN: Rafael Leao fired AC Milan top of Serie A on Sunday with the only goal in a 1-0 win over Sampdoria which allowed his side to overtake champions Inter.
With seven minutes gone Leao collected a huge kick from goalkeeper Mike Maignan and breezed past Bartosz Bereszynski before slotting home his seventh of the season.
Stefano Pioli’s side were four points behind Inter, who drew 1-1 in an enthralling match with fellow title rivals Napoli in Naples on Saturday, before last weekend’s Milan derby win but have taken the summit after a dominant display at the San Siro.
They also set up another two derbies with Inter in the Italian Cup semi-finals after smashing Lazio 4-0 on Wednesday.
“This is a perfect week, it’s not easy to do much better than this,” midfielder Sandro Tonali told Sky Sport Italia.
“We are proud, but getting satisfied with ourselves after the last three matches would be the stupidest thing we could do.”
Just two points separate Italy’s top three as third-placed Napoli are themselves one behind Inter — who have a game in hand — in a title race which could go down to the wire.
Juventus cemented their place in the Champions League positions after Danilo snatched a lastgasp point in their 1-1 draw at Atalanta.
Atalanta thought that they had leapfrogged Juve into the top four when Ukraine midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi unleashed an unstoppable strike in the 76th minute at the Gewiss Stadium.
However, Danilo nodded home Paulo Dybala’s corner in the 92nd minute to take a point which keeps Juve fourth.