Milan 2-0 Juventus: Delightful Diaz strike caps routine Rossoneri win

By Sports Desk October 08, 2022

Brahim Diaz netted a delightful individual goal after Fikayo Tomori had scored a contentious opener as Milan beat rivals Juventus 2-0 at San Siro.

Spain international Diaz charged towards the Juve goal after picking up the ball in his own half to double the home side's lead early in the second half of Saturday's Serie A clash.

That came after Tomori had made the breakthrough in first-half stoppage time, though Juventus felt there was a foul in the build-up to the corner from which the defender scored.

Despite being without a number of key men, including goalkeeper Mike Maignan, Milan saw out the win to inflict fresh pain on their former head coach Massimiliano Allegri.

Rafael Leao clipped the right-hand post with a back-heel flick with 20 minutes played and hit the other post soon after, this time with a powerful drive from outside the box.

Milan took the lead before the interval through Tomori, who got in the way of Olivier Giroud's goal-bound shot but turned the loose ball past Wojciech Szczesny from a few yards.

Juve were unhappy the goal stood due to a strong challenge from Theo Hernandez on Juan Cuadrado, but VAR could not intervene as it happened in a previous phase of play.

Diaz doubled Milan's lead as he intercepted a Dusan Vlahovic pass a few yards inside his own half, knocked the ball past a couple of Juve defenders and powerfully fired home.

What does it mean? Juve winning run halted as Rossoneri rise

Milan were poor in their midweek Champions League loss to Chelsea – a second defeat in three games in all competitions – but they responded well against Juventus.

The Rossoneri move level on points with pacesetters Napoli and Atalanta, who are both in action on Sunday, with this their sixth win in nine league outings this season.

As for Juve, they have failed to win any of their opening four Serie A away games for only the second time in the past 40 seasons and could drop into the bottom half on Sunday.

Diaz doubles up

Juve's defending for Diaz's goal was atrocious, from Vlahovic's loose pass to Leonardo Bonucci's failed attempt at a foul and then Szczesny's weak hand at the end of it.

Diaz is one of the three Spanish players to have scored more than one Serie A goal against Juventus, along with Jose Callejon and ex-Inter player Luis Suarez (three each).

Dusan's San Siro struggles

Not only did Vlahovic gift the ball to Diaz for his goal, the Serbia international also failed to have any sort of impact on the game in an attacking sense.

He failed to have a single shot and is now scoreless in four games at San Siro – only at Sassuolo's Mapei Stadium (four) has he played as many Serie A games without scoring.

What's next?

Both sides switch focus back to the Champions League on Tuesday, with Milan at home to Chelsea and Juventus away at Maccabi Haifa.

Related items

  • Man City's clash with Chelsea will decide WSL title, suggests Taylor Man City's clash with Chelsea will decide WSL title, suggests Taylor

    Manchester City boss Gareth Taylor did not understate the importance of his side’s upcoming visit to Chelsea as he described the clash as “more than just a game”.

    City currently sit top of the Women’s Super League (WSL) one point above closest rivals Chelsea on 19 points. The defending champions hold a game in hand, however, after their match against Manchester United was postponed.

    Both enter the match undefeated, with Chelsea earning six wins from six while Manchester City have six wins and one draw from seven matches, only taking a point away at Arsenal.

    Taylor’s managerial adversary, Sonia Bompastor, will be aiming to become the first-ever coach to win each of their first seven games in the WSL.

    With City unbeaten in their last three WSL meetings with Chelsea (W2 D1), Taylor is aware of the impact a positive result at Stamford Bridge could have on his title aspirations.

    "It is more than just another game, of course. We have proven so far that we can play good stuff and have got good results along the way," he said in his press conference.

    "We have been difficult to play against. There is no denying, these games are really important. For us, it is a good game and the fact it is Stamford Bridge gives us something different. We are looking forward to the challenge.

    "It is a game that everyone is excited about."

    It will be the first time the two teams have met at Chelsea’s iconic stadium. The Blues have won all six of their previous matches at Stamford Bridge in the WSL by an aggregate score of 17-4.

    It is the most any team has ever played in the competition at a home venue while maintaining a 100% win record.

    While City won this fixture at Kingsmeadow last year, earning a 1-0 victory over Chelsea through a Bunny Shaw goal, their opponents ultimately went on to claim the title on goal difference on the final day.

    Yet when asked whether outcomes in games against Chelsea will decide the title, he said: "Everything would suggest that [it will]. It's too hard to say. They have made a good start, similar to us.

    "I think for us we want to stay consistent, I think that's really important. The league table at the moment looks a little lopsided because they have a game to play and of course we want to make sure that we can give the best versions of ourselves in order to get the best result.

    "I think that trying to win the game for us is the objective and it never changes.

    "And we have a real good opportunity to do that, particularly with some of the performances that we have seen already this season and that for us is going to be our main goal in this game, to go to win."

    There was positive injury news ahead of the clash as Taylor confirmed top scorer Shaw would be fit to start, though fans will face a nervy wait for top assister Lauren Hemp’s late fitness test to determine whether the England winger will be involved.

  • Haaland and Gyokeres 'not a priority' for Barcelona, says Deco Haaland and Gyokeres 'not a priority' for Barcelona, says Deco

    Barcelona sporting director Deco has said that a striker is “not a priority” for the club despite recent links to Erling Haaland and Viktor Gyokeres.

    Deco affirmed the club’s faith in current number nine Robert Lewandowski, who is in form with 14 goals and two assists after 13 games in LaLiga this season.

    Gyokeres, by comparison, has 16 goals and one assist in the Primeira Liga while, despite a dip in form, Erling Haaland has 12 goals in the Premier League this season.

    Barcelona, however, are “happy” with Lewandowski and hope he will lead the line in the Catalonian capital for another season at least.

    "First we have to know whether Haaland is what we want for the future. We don't know that now,” Deco told El Mundo Deportivo.

    "At the moment we don't want any 'nine.' We have Robert. We are not planning anything with any 'nine.' It's not a priority because we have to focus on this season."

    Lewandowski leads the Barcelona squad for shots (38) and shots on target (26) in the league, indicating the 36-year-old is still maintaining pace at the top level.

    He leads the league for goals with Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior coming closest to matching his tally, trailing by six goals.

    "I think it's very difficult to find a striker like Robert nowadays. There are one or two of this level. Maybe Haaland or another one. There are not so many of this level available,” explained Deco.

    "But we are not going to get hung up on finding any striker now because we are going to focus first on what Robert can do. I surely think he is happy to be here. He is a winner and if we have a big season I think he will want to stay.

    "We want Robert to continue to be happy, to score goals and to stay at least one more season."

    While the Pole is without a goal in two games, Barcelona’s rumoured target Gyokeres has not faltered.

    The Swede caught global attention in Sporting CP’s recent Champions League clash with Manchester City, producing a hat-trick to help his team to a shock 4-1 win.

    He accumulated an expected goals (xG) total of 2.41 in the match, accounting for most of Sporting's overall 2.87xG.

    "Gyokeres is a good player. He has been scoring goals for some time in Portugal. We know him as we know others, but it's not a priority for us right now,” said Deco.

    "When the time comes to make a decision and I have to make it because I am the one at the club, we will consider the options. But I don't think it's the right time to talk about any player."

  • Cabal becomes second Juventus defender to suffer ACL injury Cabal becomes second Juventus defender to suffer ACL injury

    Juventus' Juan Cabal will undergo surgery after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee, intensifying the Serie A giants' defensive injury crisis.

    The 23-year-old was forced to return to Turin after injuring his knee during training with the Colombia national team ahead of their World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Ecuador.

    Cabal is the second Juventus defender to suffer an ACL injury this season after Gleison Bremer, who hurt his left knee during their 3-2 Champions League win over RB Leipzig last month.

    Cabal has so far made nine appearances across all competitions this season.

    Juventus are sixth in the Serie A standings and 11th in the Champions League's new-look league phase.

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.