Rafael Leao scored two brilliant goals as Milan stunned Serie A leaders Napoli with a crushing 4-0 victory at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Sunday.
Leao netted either side of a close-range strike from Brahim Diaz and opened the scoring with a lobbed one-on-one finish before doubling with a great effort on the break.
With Serie A’s leading goalscorer Victor Osimhen injured, Napoli applied plenty of pressure but lacked a cutting edge and Alexis Saelemaekers added some sparkle with a fine solo goal for the Scudetto holders.
The result saw Milan capitalize on Inter’s loss to Fiorentina to move up to third in the table and Stefano Pioli will be hoping it’s a sign of things to come ahead of the upcoming Champions League quarter-finals.
Giovanni Simeone – starting in place of Osimhene – missed the first clear chance when he fired over from 12 yards, but it was Milan who struck first after 17 minutes.
Leao pounced on Diaz’s through ball before silencing the home crowd with Alex Meret’s cheeky finish to end his 11-match goal drought at club level.
Things got even better for the Rossoneri eight minutes later when Diaz brought down Mario Rui after controlling Ismael Bennacer’s cross from the left before finishing high into the net.
Mike Maignan produced strong saves to deny Piotr Zielinski and Rui as Napoli struggled to hit back, while Olivier Giroud went close to finding the bottom right corner after the break.
Despite Napoli dominating possession, Milan went further as Leao rounded off a lightning break as he tricked his way past Amir Rrahmani and into the top right corner.
With Napoli at sea in defence, Saelemaekers added his own memorable strike as he danced through several Partenopeian challenges before getting past Meret in the 67th minute.
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