Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic reached 501 goals in his club career on Sunday and boosted Milan’s comfortable 4-0 victory at San Siro against Crotone with a double, which restored the Milan team to the lead in Italian Serie A. that had been momentarily taken from him by Inter Milan with their victory on Friday against Fiorentina.
Milan regained the two points advantage over Inter, second, and the seven that separate them from Juventus Turin, who with their 2-0 victory this Saturday against Roma reached third position, and still with one game less.
The logic was imposed by Milan at the San Siro against the bottom of the table, a Crotone who visited the leader after adding just three victories in twenty games and conceding up to 46 goals.
The southern team competed with commitment, but could not contain Ibrahimovic, who vindicated himself after failing a penalty the previous day with two goals to reach twelve goals in the league competition.
The veteran Swedish striker broke the equality after half an hour by culminating a perfect triangulation with the Portuguese Rafael Leao and widened the gap in 64, by finishing at pleasure a low center by French Theo Hernández.
He celebrated his 500th and 501st goals for the Ibrahimovic clubs, who in his long career played for Malmo, Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Paris Saint Germain, Manchester United, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Milan.
A double by Croatian Ante Rebic put the final seal on the triumph of a Milan that won fifteen games in 21 days, with four draws for just two losses, with two weeks remaining until the derby against Inter, second.
The Interista team itself opened the day of Italian football on Friday, with a 2-0 win at Fiorentina, in a match decided by goals from Niccoló Barella, passed by Chilean Alexis Sánchez, and Croatian Ivan Perisic.
It was an important victory for Antonio Conte’s men, who had lost the first leg of the Italian Cup semifinals against Juventus Turin just three days earlier.
And it is precisely Juventus, which will meet Inter again this Tuesday in the return of the semifinals cup, is increasing the pace and pressing in search of what would be its tenth consecutive title.
This Saturday the Turin team showed its most competitive version against Roma. He locked himself in defense, closed all kinds of spaces against an aggressive visiting team and punished the rival with a goal from the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, always decisive.
He made it 1-0 in the 13th, with an excellent left-footed shot from the edge of the box, then hit the crossbar with another powerful shot. His Juventus sentenced the game at the restart thanks to an own goal by Roman defender Roger Ibañez.
Andrea Pirlo’s team snatched third place from Roma and is seven points behind the lead, with the match against Naples corresponding to the third day still to be played, after being postponed in October due to cases of coronavirus in the Neapolitan team.
Negative day for Atalanta and Napoli, European rivals of Real Madrid and Granada respectively.
Atalanta drew 3-3 against Torino after squandering a three-goal lead, with both from Colombian Luis Muriel included, while Napoli lost 1-2 at Genoa.
The Neapolitan team, coached by Gennaro Gattuso, created a great volume of play, but again had little punch and was fifth, three points behind the Champions League zone, their main objective in the league season.