SAN FRANCISCO, November 23, (THEWILL) – Evergreen veteran striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic maintained his scoring run with a goal in each half to help Milan earn a 3-1 win over 10-man Napoli that takes his side back to the summit of Serie A.
Earlier on Sunday, the Reggio nell’Emilia side Sassuolo had moved to top the table with a 2-0 win at Hellas Verona. Milan retook the summit with an Ibrahimovic-inspired victory at Stadio San Paolo to go two points clear.
Milan made a positive start to proceedings forcing Alex Meret, the returning Napoli keeper, to push a shot from attacking midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu past the post and Simon Kjaer shinned wide from the resulting corner.
The match was just 20 minutes old when Ibrahimovic got in front of centre back Kalidou Koulibaly and headed Theo Hernandez’s left-sided cross away from Meret.
The visitors’ keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma produced fine saves to keep the goal advantage when he denied Dries Mertens and Hirving Lozano, either side of Giovanni Di Lorenzo firing against the crossbar, as Napoli initially responded well to going behind.
Napoli’s wastefulness would prove their undoing in the second half as the mercurial Ibrahimovic was there again to convert Ante Rebic’s floated delivery from underneath the crossbar and offer his side some breathing space in the lead.
Ibrahimovic could have been on a hattrick but he had an instant third rightly ruled out for offside. Then, just three minutes past the hour mark, Napoli gave themselves hope. Mertens turned Alessio Romagnoli and beat Donnarumma with his shot.
But a clumsy challenge from Bakayoko on Hernandez saw the ex-Milan midfielder pick up a second yellow and Napoli failed to create any more clear-cut openings.
In the 78th minute, Ibrahimovic went down with an injury in what will be a big concern for absent coach Stefano Pioli. And in the very final minutes of extra time, substitute Jens Petter Hauge squeezed a shot past Meret from a tight angle to seal the three points.
There appears to be simply no stopping 39-year-old Ibrahimovic. With his brace on Sunday, AC Milan ended a 10-year wait to beat Napoli in Naples. He scored from two of his three shots and now has 10 goals for the season.
Only Marco van Basten (12 in 1992-93) scored more for Milan in the opening eight games of a Serie A campaign. Unfortunate, he may now face a spell on the sidelines.
Both sides are in Europa League action on Thursday, with Napoli hosting Rijeka and Milan traveling to Lille.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
