AC Milan 2-1 Fiorentina: Hosts keep up pressure on leaders Napoli with last-gasp own goal

AC Milan needed an own goal in stoppage time from defender Nikola Milenkovic to take a 2-1 Serie A win at home against Fiorentina on Sunday.

It took the hosts 90 seconds to take the lead as Olivier Giroud pushed the ball to Rafael Leao, who charged into the penalty area and calmly placed it in the net.

Fiorentina could have equalized after eight minutes when Cristiano Biraghi was cleared, but his shot from a sharp angle hit the post and bounced off.

Rafael Leao with the Ronaldo ‘nap’ celebration after opening the scoring for AC Mian

Antonin Barak rightly equalized for Fiorentina in the 28th minute when his shot went in after bouncing off defender Malick Thiaw after Milan’s sloppy play in the penalty area.

A minute into stoppage time, Ante Rebic sent a cross into the penalty area, Milenkovic miscalculating and directing the ball into his own net.

Milan are second on 33 points going into the World Cup break, with Lazio in third place later on Sunday. Fiorentina are 10th with 19 points.

Leao shot into the penalty area and gave the home team the lead in the second minute

Antonin Barak equalized for Fiorentina when his shot at defender Malick Thiaw . went

“A draw would have changed the mood in two months of the break, but somehow we held on with a spirit of sacrifice, not playing that well honestly, but we wanted to win and we did,” Paolo Maldini told DAZN.

“Napoli have done incredible things with 11 wins in a row, so they deserve credit for that. We are more or less where we were last season, only we are also in the Champions League round of 16 and we have a different mentality. In this way we keep the enthusiasm going, even if the performance is not too good.’

“It was a very open game and anything could have happened, but a draw would have been half a defeat for us, so that gave us the strength to push harder and sometimes go beyond logic or style to get the job done.” clear .

AC Milan striker Olivier Giroud tries an acrobatic attempt on goal in the second half

‘Of course we believe in ourselves. Last season, when we played the derby, we were seven points behind Inter. We know it’s not easy to keep up this pace to the end, so we have to stay in and see what happens.

“At the moment we are running a bit empty, I didn’t see that at the start of the season.

“Hopefully we can get players back after the break, because Zlatan Ibrahimovic, for example, should return in January.”

AC Milan midfielder Aster Vranckx celebrates with Fikayo Tomori after dramatic victory