He also beats Taurus and wins his sixth consecutive victory. Mission accomplished for Milan that after the feasting of the previous days (10 goals in the last 3) is “satisfied” with a goal to fend off the Juric danger and keep the championship lead: a solitary summit at least until Thursday evening when Napoli will face the Bologna. The 1-0 is by Giroud who also holds a small record for the Frenchman: he signed in all his first three home games, second in the era of three points after Balotelli. A precious flicker at the start of the match (14 ‘) that allows the Rossoneri to immediately channel a challenge that at the start presented various pitfalls against a Toro who has also returned practical – after the success against Genoa – as well as beautiful. Instead, this time the Croatian team, despite Belotti’s return as a starter after 59 days, stumbles upon old problems, becoming dangerous only in the final moments of the race.
Toro makes Milan with all-court pressing and a substantial ball possession – almost sixty percent of ball possession -, but then gets stuck in the last thirty meters. Milan, on the other hand, does what a great team can do, capitalizing to the maximum: two shots and a goal. So at the first lunge he takes the lead by exploiting one of the highlights of this season: the inactive ball. The scheme studied by heart is from a corner kick: Tonali places the ball on the first post, Krunic extends it on the second and for the 2018 world champion it is child’s play to hit the goal. A flicker that takes the pressure off Leao not in his best days and also on Saelemaekers, who doesn’t light up as he should. In the middle of the field, however, Tonali stands out, confirming that he is in a great moment of form. From the bench, Pioli understands the dangers of a challenge always in the balance, even if Toro has a tremendous difficulty in shooting, so at the interval he clears the field of yellow cards (Romagnoli and Kalulu) and lines up Kjaer and Theo Hernandez.
Belotti is not enough. His last time on the pitch, against Fiorentina on matchday two, coincided with the worst performance of the grenade championship. Two months later, even in another Toro he is still not the best day striker, just back after the longest inactivity of his career. The real Gallo will arrive at the end of November after the championship break, Juric argues. Meanwhile, in a stadium that whistles him loudly, he plays the usual generous game before giving way to Sanabria, for the first time on the bench this year. His performance lasts 54 ‘, but the grenade almost never manages to free himself from shooting despite the right axis with Singo promising: the biggest opportunity is at 8’ of the second half, but the shot from an inviting position is weak. Immediately after, Sanabria enters and the Paraguayan builds the best opportunity of the match, inspired by the other newcomer Praet: Tatarusanu instinctively deviates, saving the result. Then it is the Belgian who becomes dangerous with a deflected shot that hits the top of the crossbar. In the last attack Milinkovic-Savic also pushes forward, not enough to reach a Milan that travels at the same pace as Nordahl’s in 54/55: nine wins and one draw.