The story appears on

Page A15

April 25, 2011

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Sports » Soccer

Robinho puts Milan eight clear of Inter

AC Milan took a giant step towards its first Italian Serie A title in seven years on Saturday when a late Robinho strike gave the Rossoneri a 1-0 win at Brescia and an eight-point lead with four games to go.

While Milan marched on, champion and city rival Inter Milan beat Lazio 2-1 to move up to second place, one point ahead of Napoli, which lost by the same score at Palermo, while Bari was relegated.

AS Roma beat Chievo Verona 1-0 on a Simone Perrotta strike to consolidate sixth place and close in on Udinese, three points ahead, and fourth-placed Lazio. Udinese lost at home to Parma 0-2.

At the Rigamonti Stadium, sent clean through by Antonio Cassano, Robinho finished coolly eight minutes from time to give Milan a hard-earned win over relegation-threatened Brescia, which is now five points from safety.

Cassano should have given Milan the lead four minutes before the break when he somehow nodded over from eight meters after being picked out by Kevin-Prince Boateng's cross.

He missed another gilt-edged chance in the second half, heading badly wide after brilliant skill from Clarence Seedorf.

Milan had goalkeeper Christian Abbiati to thank for late saves from Alessandro Diamanti, whose swerving free kick struck the bar with 10 minutes to go.

"We should have finished them off in the first half," Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri told Sky Italia.

"There's nothing to celebrate yet, but we'll have a nice Easter."

Bari was relegated after a second-half penalty from Nicola Pozzi gave struggling Sampdoria a 1-0 win in Puglia that lifted it level with third-from-bottom Lecce on 35 points. Lecce lost 2-4 in Genoa.

Cesena climbed two points clear of the drop zone after goals from Emanuele Giaccherini and Dominique Malonga helped the Serie A newcomer to a crucial 2-0 win at Bologna.

In a dramatic finale to the late game between seventh-placed Juventus and lowly Catania, Francesco Lodi curled in an exquisite free kick to give the Sicilian side a 95th-minute equalizer and dent Juventus's European challenge.

An Alessandro Del Piero brace had put the Bianconeri in control at half-time but Catania, now two points clear of the relegation zone, hit back through Alejandro Gomez nine minutes from time before Lodi's late finish to make it 2-2.





 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend