El Sharaawi eases Milan’s woes

Striker El Sharaawi became Milan’s saviour yesterday scoring a 77th minute goal to give his side a much needed morale-boosting win.

Earlier, despite attacking from start to finish, Allegri’s side had failed to find their way to goal as Genoa, now coached by Del Neri, closed all the gaps at the back.

Milan again disappointed their fans in the first half as they failed to create a decent chance to open the scoring.

In the second half, their play improved somehow and Genoa goalie Frey denied Emanuelson with an extended foot while Pato missed the best opportunity, heading wide from an ideal position.

Then came El Sharaawi’s goal to ease the rossoneri’s worries and push them on to the 10-point mark, 12 behind leaders Juventus who have today’s match in hand.

In the early match yesterday, strugglers Siena and Palermo also played out a dull goalless draw, in a clash between the league’s bottom two clubs.

Both teams struggled to carve out goalscoring opportunities. Palermo fared the better in the second half but failed to score for the sixth time this season.

Siena’s best chance came in the 28th minute as Francesco Bolzoni’s 30-yard drive flew narrowly wide. In the buildup, Emanuele Calaio called for a penalty after being pushed by Palermo midfielder Massimo Donati.

Fabrizio Miccoli missed a glorious chance for Palermo. He beat the offside trap to collect a delightful throughball from Donati but, one-on-one with onrushing Siena goalkeeper Gianluca Pegolo, he blazed over.

It was Siena coach Serse Cosmi’s first match against Palermo since the Sicilian club sacked him after just four matches in charge.

ACMilanmidfielderUrbyEmanuelson,right,oftheNetherlands,istackledbyGenoadefenderEmilianoMoretti duringyesterday’smatchatSanSiro Photograph:AP