Milan are without a victory in seven matches after they were beaten by city rivals Inter in the derby on Sunday.
Lautaro Martinez’s purple patch continued as Inter consigned sorry Milan to a fourth successive defeat with a 1-0 derby victory.
Handed the captain’s armband by Simone Inzaghi, the in-form Martinez took his tally to 15 in a completely one-sided first half at San Siro on Sunday.
Milan failed to register a shot on target in a lackluster display that took their winless run to seven games and piled more pressure on head coach Stefano Pioli.
Second-placed Inter moved five points clear of their city rivals behind runaway Serie A leaders Napoli and the Rossoneri finished sixth as their dismal start to the year continued.
Martinez forced a superb reflex save from Cipriano Tatarusanu and also headed just wide for the Nerazzurri.
Inzaghi’s side were dominant but referee Davide Massa rightly refused to award them a penalty when Edin Dzeko went down too easily following a challenge from Matteo Gabbia.
However, it seemed only a matter of time before Inter were in front and the opener duly arrived in the 34th minute when the spirited Martinez rose above Simon Kjaer to nod in Hakan Calhanoglu’s corner from the left.
It remained one-way traffic after the break, Tatarusanu palming Martinez’s shot at his near post after Pioli introduced Rafael Leao and Alexis Saelemaekers.
Olivier Giroud finally had Milan’s first attempt after 57 minutes, but his header flew over the bar and never troubled Andre Onan.
More goals instead seemed more likely at the other end.
Romelu Lukaku had one sent off when he was deemed to have pulled down Malick Thiaw and Martinez had another whistled for marginal offside, but his first-half finish proved decisive.
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