Milan, February 19 (BNA): The promoted AC Milan side defeated Monza 1-0 at Silvio Berlusconi Stadium and returned to the Champions League qualifying spots.
Junior Messias scored the only goal of the derby match to help AC Milan claim their third consecutive victory, the Associated Press reports.
The Rossoneri appear to have turned things around after a terrible start to the year. They advanced to third place, three points behind second-placed Inter Milan, after the Nerazzurri beat Udinese 3-1.
Napoli were leading the standings by 15 points.
Monza’s first league loss of 2023 upended the last unbeaten team in Serie A this year.
It was a special match as Berlusconi, along with Monza CEO Adriano Galliani, oversaw 29 trophies in 31 years at Milan before selling the club in 2017. He bought Monza the following year and took the club from Serie C to its Serie A debut. . A this season.
“Playing Milan here at Monza is a dream come true,” Galliani said. “Playing for AC Milan in the same league is incredible, both for me and for President Berlusconi.
“There are unbelievable feelings that I find difficult to put into words. This was a great match and what we are doing so far is amazing.”
Monza started strongly and Milan goalkeeper Ciprian Totorano had to make two saves in the first 72 seconds.
But these were Monza’s only attempts on goal in the first half.
Goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio was the busier goalkeeper and kept Milan at bay until the 31st minute. Matteo Pessina attempted to head a cross but it fell to Messias, who controlled it before volleying into the right side of the net.
Monza almost equalized in the 73rd minute, but Patrick Cioria’s shot rebounded from the right, hit Turano on the back and bounced off the post again.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 41, was on the bench for the second consecutive Serie A match, but he will have to wait even longer for his first appearance since knee surgery last May.
Goal!
Romelu Lukaku converted a penalty the second time when he asked for his first Serie A goal in six months.
Lukaku, who suffered from poor form and injury, saw a poor penalty kick that was saved by Udinese goalkeeper Marco Silvestri but had to be recovered due to encroachment and the Inter forward drove his second effort into the bottom right corner.
It was Lukaku’s first league goal since August. He also scored in October’s Champions League group stage match against Viktoria Plzen.
Sandy Lovric equalized at the end of the first half, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan restored Inter’s lead in the 73rd minute, after a counterattack, and substitute Lautaro Martinez concluded the match in the last minute.
It was a much changed Inter side, just four days before they hosted Porto in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.
The wait is over
Sampdoria’s long wait for a home goal was over, but a missed penalty and a late winner saw them lose to Bologna 2-1.
Substitute Abdel Hamid Al-Sabiri converted a penalty kick with his first kick of the match in the 68th minute, as Samp scored its first home league goal since September.
But Bologna goalkeeper Łukasz Skorupski saved Sabri’s second penalty attempt three minutes later.
Roberto Soriano gave Bologna a first-half lead and Riccardo Orsolini snatched all three points in the final minute.
Samp stayed eight points from safety while Bologna moved into the Europa League qualification spot.