ROME: Manuel Locatelli showed no mercy against his former club as his deflected strike helped Juventus beat 10-man AC Milan 1-0 away in a highly-anticipated Serie A showdown on Sunday.
AC Milan were beset by injuries and suspensions as Stefano Pioli had to opt for third-choice goalkeeper Antonio Mirante and Alessandro Florenzi played as a makeshift left full-back, while Juve visited San Siro without Danilo, with Federico Chiesa only fit for the bench.
The home side were aggressive from the start as Olivier Giroud’s acrobatic strike went wide, before the Frenchman saw his attempt denied by Wojciech Szczesny. On the other end, Filip Kostic blasted it wide, while Adrien Rabiot’s shot whistled off the post.
Milan were reduced to 10 players in the 40th minute when Malick Thiaw brought down a sprinting Moise Kean. Then he saw red as the last defender, forcing Pioli to replace striker Christian Pulisic with Pierre Kalulu to cover the defence.
Juve went ahead in the 63rd minute with a stroke of luck as ex-Milan boy Locatelli fired from outside of the box; it took a huge deflection off Rade Krunic to go beyond a helpless Mirante, said Xinhua.
The Bianconeri still had the chances to double the lead but Mirante flew to palm away Dusan Vlahovic’s rocket, before the 40-year-old performed a double-save to prevent Milan conceding more.
With the defeat, Pioli’s side slipped to second with 21 points, one point behind Inter Milan, Juventus still ranks third but only one point adrift of AC Milan.
Elsewhere, Stephan El Shaarawy’s last-gasp winner helped Roma edge past Monza 1-0, but their head coach Jose Mourinho was sent off for making an ironic gesture in the stoppage time.
Also on Sunday, Atalanta conquered Genoa 2-0, Bologna beat Frosinone 2-1, Salernitana shared the spoils with Cagliari at 2-2. – BERNAMA
