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AC Milan are back at the top of the Serie A standings after another sensational performance by Zlatan Ibrahimovic saw them take a 3-1 win over Napoli at Stadio San Paolo on Sunday night.
The Rossoneri were temporarily displaced from first place after Sassuolo’s victory earlier in the day, but it lasted shortly after Diavolo took their first victory over Partenopei in 11 attempts.
Much of the credit must go to Ibrahimovic as the Swede scored two goals, the first of which was a spectacular header from a distance, to help Milan assert their authority over former boss Gennaro Gattuso.
Although Dries Mertens’ goal cut the lead in half in the 62nd minute, it was not enough as Tiemoue Bakayoko received a red card against his former team shortly after to complicate matters and let the air of a possible counter attack escape. Jens Petter Hauge scored his first Serie A goal for Milan in injury time to put a bow to the proceedings.
Matteo Politano set things in motion by forcing Simon Kjaer to make a desperate interception, while Milan responded with an effort from Hakan Calhanoglu that Alex Meret rejected.
The deadlock was broken in the 20th minute when Ibrahimovic headed in with a great header from inside the area. Theo Hernandez fired into a compelling cross and the Swede moved in front of Kalidou Koulibaly to direct his effort into the bottom corner.
The goal means Ibrahimovic now joins players like Gabriel Batistuta, Christian Vieri and Krzysztof Piatek to become the fourth player to score in each of his first six Serie A games of the season in the three-point era.
The goal woke up Napoli as Mertens was about to hit the back of the net with a great shot from distance, but Gianluigi Donnarumma got down to push the ball around the post.
Napoli had three chances from the resulting corner with a shot from Bakayoko parried by Donnarumma, Giovanni Di Lorenzo fired his shot at the crossbar while Hirving Lozano saw his rebound overturned over the crossbar.
The half ended with Mertens forcing Donnarumma to make another save after a Lorenzo Insigne free kick.
The momentum did not carry over to the second half for the home team, however, as Milan doubled their lead with a surgical counterattack in the 54th minute. Ante Rebic stepped forward and faced Kostas Manolas before floating in a precise cross. towards the far post that Ibrahimovic pushed with his knee.
After the Swede saw a correctly called third offside, it was Napoli that took advantage of Milan’s sloppy defense to cut the deficit in half.
Franck Kessie fumbled just outside the penalty area and after Mario Rui fired a low cross that Alessio Romagnoli couldn’t control, Mertens was quickest and fired under a Donnarumma charge to reopen the match.
However, Napoli’s comeback took a quick hit when Bakayoko picked up a second yellow card minutes later for a goofy lunge on Theo Hernandez that was never going to work.
However, it was not all good news for the Rossoneri, as Ibrahimovic grabbed his hamstring with just over 10 minutes to go, and young Lorenzo Colombo entered his place.
Colombo and Andrea Petagna watched their last chances go to waste before Hauge latched on to a direct pass from Ismael Bennacer before passing Meret from a right angle to close out a famous Rossoneri win.
The post-Ibrahimovic masterclass sees AC Milan beyond Napoli first appeared on Forza Italian Football.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com
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