Rafael Leao’s eighth-minute goal – his tenth of the season – was enough for AC Milan to go past a struggling Sampdoria. Later, Juventus came from a goal down to rescue a point against top-four chasing Atalanta in the 92nd minute.
AC Milan are back on top of the Serie A table – for the time being. The Rossoneri beat a struggling Sampdoria side 1-0 at the San Siro on Sunday night, overtaking rivals Inter Milan at the summit; the Nerazzurri had drawn with title-chasers Napoli a day earlier and are now a point behind Milan while playing a game fewer.
Leao scored the only goal of the game in Milan’s 1-0 win, and it came in the eighth minute. The Portuguese attacker latched onto a long pass by goalkeeper Mike Maignan, turning the ball inside the defender with a deft first touch before finding himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. He finished confidently into the bottom corner – for his tenth goal of the season.
Milan could have pulled further away in front had it not been for Samp goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone. The 26-year-old made superb stops to deny Junior Messias, Olivier Giroud, and Ante Rebic, but his heroics went down in vain as, at the other end, his teammates were unable to breach the Milanese defence.
Later on, Juventus met Atalanta at the latter’s home stadium, the Gewiss, with both teams looking to lock down a place in the top four. Juventus could’ve had the win secured had Marco Sportiello allowed one of Dusan Vlahovic’s attempts to beat him, but he didn’t; instead, he made two great saves to frustrate the young attacker.
Fourteen minutes from time, Ruslan Malinovskyi put La Dea in front with a stunning strike from distance.
The Ukrainian midfielder almost ripped the net with a powerful shot, leaving Wojciech Szczesny with no chance of keeping his strike out.
However, Juve fought back and equalized with seconds left to play. Defender Danilo turned out to be the hero for Max Allegri’s team, as he flicked a Paulo Dybala corner in the 92nd minute to rescue a point for the Bianconeri.
