LAST UPDATE | 3 Oct 2021
AC MILAN STAYED in touch with Serie A leaders Napoli on Sunday after coming away from Atalanta with a 3-2 win which maintains their unbeaten start to the season and underlines their title credentials.
Milan came out on top in a frenetic encounter to stay two points behind Napoli, whose 2-1 win at Fiorentina was their seventh in as many games so far this season, after a nervy ending in Bergamo which saw Atalanta pull back two late goals after going three down with 12 minutes remaining.
There are signs that a three-way title race is starting to take shape with Inter Milan a further two points back in third, while Roma are also lurking in fourth on 15 points following their 2-0 win over Empoli earlier on Sunday.
Stefano Pioli’s Milan went ahead almost straight from kick-off through Davide Calabria, and the hosts then launched a wave of attacks on the Rossoneri goal but found Mike Maignan in great form.
The home crowd groaned in disbelief in the 20th minute when, after doing brilliantly to tip away Davide Zappacosta’s near post drive from the edge of the area, Frenchman Maignan then got a hand to Duvan Zapata’s bullet header from the subsequent corner.
And Sandro Tonali made the most of his goalkeeper’s fine display when he doubled Milan’s lead two minutes from half-time with his second Serie A goal of the season.
Tonali, who has had a brilliant start to the campaign for Milan, picked Remo Freuler’s pocket and then raced through unopposed on goal before calmly slotting past Juan Musso.
Milan kept a lid on Atalanta and should have added to their lead through Alexis Saelemaekers before Rafale Leao did curl home the third in the 78th minute.
Zapata’s 86th-minute penalty and a Mario Pasalic tap-in deep in stoppage time kept the game alive until the final whistle but Milan ran out deserved winners.
Napoli already knew they would remain top of Serie A after maintaining their 100% start to the season with a gritty 2-1 win at Fiorentina earlier on Sunday, while Roma bounced back from derby defeat with a 2-0 win over Empoli.
Luciano Spalletti’s Napoli have a perfect 21 points from their first seven league matches thanks to their come-from-behind victory at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, which came thanks to strikes from Hirving Lozano and Amir Rrahmani either side of half-time.
It was a tough defeat for Fiorentina, who lost in a similar fashion to how they fell at home to Inter a few weeks back after deservedly taking the lead through Lucas Martinez Quarta.
Vincenzo Italiano’s side stay fifth on 12 points, nine behind Napoli and three away Roma in fourth.
“We suffered a bit after we went ahead, but we also had situations where we could have put ourselves 3-1 ahead which we didn’t manage to exploit,” said Spalletti to DAZN.
“We need to work on that because we will need to win some matches in which we’re truly up against it.”
Martinez Quarta opened the scoring just before the half hour mark with a superb volleyed finish from Dusan Vlahovic’s first-time lay-off at a corner.
However Lozano levelled six minutes before the break after Bartlomiej Dragowski saved Lorenzo Insigne’s penalty and then denied the Italy forward on the rebound, the Mexican roofing home Napoli’s third bite of the cherry.
And Rrahmani scored what turned out to be the winning goal four minutes after the break when he met Piotr Zielinski’s beautifully flighted free-kick with a guided header.
Jose Mourinho’s Roma took a while to get going but were good value for their win at the Stadio Olimpico, with promoted Empoli folding once Lorenzo Pellegrini opened the scoring three minutes before half-time.
Pellegrini, who on Thursday was named in Roberto Mancini’s Italy squad for the upcoming Nations League Final Four, collected Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s pass on the edge of the area before bumping home a low shot from the edge of the area.
It was the Roma captain’s sixth goal in all competitions this season and came the day after the 25-year-old extended his contract with the club until 2026.
Mkhitaryan then made sure of the points two minutes after the restart with his second of the campaign.
The Armenia captain was on hand to guide the ball home after Guiglielmo Vicario had just managed to tip Tammy Abraham’s fierce drive onto the bar, and afterwards Roma coasted to a simple win which boosted morale after losing ot Lazio last weekend.
“We played well, we were solid and compact,” Mourinho told DAZN.
“I think we deserved to win, it’s always good to win after a defeat. Eith 15 points from seven matches we’re doing all right.”
Bologna gave coach Sinisa Mihajlovic room to breath with a comfortable 3-0 Serie A win over Lazio which ended a worrying run of results.
Mihajlovic’s position on the Bologna bench had been under discussion ahead of the visit of their Roman opponents after three matches without a win which included shipping six goals at Inter Milan and last weekend’s miserable defeat to Empoli.
Goals from Musa Barrow, Arthur Theate and Aaron Hickey gave the hosts a straightforward win over Lazio, who were without injured Ciro Immobile and finished with 10 mean after Francesco Acerbi’s sending off.
Bologna moved up to ninth on 11 points, level with Atalanta, Lazio and Juventus.
“I knew we would put in a good performance today, because if we go out there with the right attitude, we can win games,” Mihajlovic told Sky Sport Italia.
Sampdoria sit 15th on six points, two fewer than 13th-placed Udinese after the pair drew 3-3 in one of two mid-afternoon matches.
Verona are also on eight points in 12th after stretching their unbeaten run under new coach Igor Tudor to four matches with a 4-0 crushing of Spezia.
- Originally published at 21:33, updated with AC Milan report
