Malick Thiaw gets red as Locatelli returns to haunt his former club, Juventus defeats AC Milan 1-0
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| Photo: Malick Thiaw. Credit: Getty Images |
At San Siro on Sunday, Juventus defeated 10-man AC Milan 1-0 thanks to a deflected goal by Manuel Locatelli.
At the hour mark, the former Milan star scored to give Juventus a crucial three points.
After Malick Thiaw was sent off in the 40th minute, Milan, who with a victory might have taken back the top spot in the Serie A standings, played more than half the match with just ten players.
Moise Kean was breaking through on goal when the defender, who was the last guy, yanked him down, costing his team the game.
Juventus needs three more points to close the gap on leaders Inter Milan, who are two points ahead of Massimiliano Allegri's team, and second-place Milan.
Milan dominated big portions of the match and came quite close to scoring the first goal when their entire squad was on the field.
To prevent former Arsenal teammate Olivier Giroud from ending the impasse, Wojciech Szczesny made an incredible save. With his back to goal, the Frenchman received the ball and used his body to work a low strike. Szczesny made a fantastic save to tip the ball around the post.
Five minutes remained in the first half when Thiaw sent Kean off after he hauled the forward to the ground when he attempted to score.
A few minutes later, Adrien Rabiot's precise pass found Kean, who missed the back post with a close-range attempt that would have given Juventus the lead.
Locatelli fired from thirty yards out as the tide started to turn in Juventus' favor. His effort past Antonio Mirante after it harshly deflected off of replacement Rade Krunic.
With one man less, Milan found it difficult to recover, and in the closing moments, Juventus pushed for a second goal.
For his first start in two years, Milan's third-choice goalkeeper, 40-year-old Mirante, gave a commendable performance. He also made some vital saves toward the conclusion of the game to limit the deficit to one.
After tipping Dusan Vlahovic's hard shot over the crossbar, he produced a huge double save to deny Andrea Cambiaso's long-range attempt and Vlahovic's subsequent effort.
However, his outstanding saves proved to be ineffective as Juventus secured all three points and Milan was unable to respond.
Though it's impossible to say for sure, Milan looked much more convincing with 11 players on the field, so perhaps they would have won all three points.
Rafael Leao was a major source of trouble, and the hosts were generally happier in the first half. They even had a brief improvement in appearance after Locatelli's red card, but it was shortly after they began to weary and shortly after Locatelli's strike altered the course of the match.
After the first leg, they found it difficult to generate any momentum and ruined their chance to take the lead in the Serie A table as Inter maintained their lead. Click here to read more.
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