Tearful Locatelli sinks 10-man Milan as Juve close in on leaders Inter
MILAN, Italy, (AFP) — An emotional Manuel Locatelli fired Juventus to within two points of Serie A leaders Inter Milan with the only goal in Sunday’s 1-0 win at 10-man AC Milan, the Italy midfielder’s boyhood club.
Massimiliano Allegri’s side prevailed at a packed San Siro thanks to Manuel Locatelli’s long-range strike in the 62nd minute, seven years to the day after scoring the winning goal for Milan against Juve.
Juve, who like Milan were missing a clutch of first-choice players from their starting XI, stay third but are closing in on Inter and a point behind Milan who have surrendered top spot to their local rivals.
Milan youth product Locatelli broke down in tears at the final whistle but his shot wouldn’t have got past third-choice goalkeeper Antonio Mirante had it not been for a massive deflection off substitute Rade Krunic.
“It’s always special playing here,” said Locatelli to DAZN.
“Life took me on another path and I’m playing for the team I should be. But it’s amazing that it was my goal which won it. It was emotional.”
Mirante, starting his first match in over two years, hadn’t had a single save to make up to that point, even after Malick Thiaw was sent off five minutes before the break for rugby tackling Moise Kean.
Italy forward Kean then missed a golden opportunity to put Juve ahead on the stroke of half-time when he pushed Adrien Rabiot’s deep cross wide from inches out.
Milan started the second half stronger but Locatelli’s goal deflated the hosts and led to the rest of the match being almost a non-event, as Juve were content to simply control the match rather than press home their advantage.
Mirante did make his presence felt late on, neatly tipping over substitute Dusan Vlahovic’s drive with five minutes remaining and pulling off a brilliant double save from Andrea Cambiaso and Vlahovic.
Milan now have to travel to PSG on Wednesday before facing champions Napoli in Naples next weekend after an unfortunate defeat.
“We played well with 11 men, we played well with 10 men, if we’d been a bit more alert then we could have got a result because we weren’t the worse team even when we were a man down,” said Milan coach Stefano Pioli.
