French flair works for Milan in 3-1 win over Roma. Fans jeer suspended coach Mourinho on big screen
MILAN (AP) — Without the suspended José Mourinho and injured Paulo Dybala, Roma fell 3-1 at AC Milan in Serie A on Sunday and lost ground in the race for the top four and a Champions League place.
It was a victory made in France for Milan as Yacine Adli netted an early opener before compatriot Olivier Giroud doubled the Rossoneri’s lead in the second half.
Giroud also delightfully set up another Frenchman in Théo Hernandez to seal the match six minutes from time after Leandro Paredes had reduced the deficit with a penalty.
Milan remained third, while Roma was ninth, five points below fourth-place Fiorentina, after a fourth loss in seven matches for Mourinho's team.
Both Milan and Roma were looking to bounce back from being knocked out of the Italian Cup midweek.
Mourinho was suspended for the match after being sent off against Atalanta last weekend but he was still jeered by Milan fans when he was shown on the big screen at San Siro. Roma was also without key forward Dybala, who was sidelined with yet another muscular problem.
Milan took the lead in the 11th minute when Adli managed to carve out space for himself to drill the ball into the bottom right corner for his first goal for the club.
Hernandez clipped the woodwork and Christian Pulisic — who had been given the player of the month award for December before the match — twice went close, while Roma also had chances to level.
But it was Milan which doubled its lead in the 56th as Adli’s cross to the back post was nodded back to the center of the area by Simon Kjær for Giroud to head in from point-blank range.
Roma got back into the match 13 minutes later with Paredes’ penalty after Lorenzo Pellegrini was tripped by Milan captain Davide Calabria.
However, Milan sealed the result with a sumptuous piece of play as Hernandez played a one-two with Giroud, who found him again with a brilliant backheel for the defender to blast in off the underside of the crossbar.
The move had Milan owner Gerry Cardinale and adviser and former player Zlatan Ibrahimović nodding at each other in approval in the stands.
The duo had spent several minutes before the match talking to the team in the locker room.
Yunus Musah also hit the post for Milan late on, shortly after coming on for United States teammate Pulisic.
EVER-PRESENT
The ever-present Felipe Anderson scored to help Lazio beat Lecce 1-0 as the capital side continued its impressive recent run.
Felipe Anderson netted in the 58th minute of his 126th straight match in all competitions for Lazio.
It was Lazio’s fourth straight victory in Serie A and Maurizio Sarri's side also eliminated city rival Roma from the Italian Cup midweek in a tense quarterfinal.
Lazio moved up to fifth. It was a point behind Fiorentina and one above Bologna after both those sides surprisingly dropped points against relegation-threatened Udinese and Cagliari.
Lazio had got off to a poor start in the league, including a 2-1 loss at Lecce on the opening day of the season.
It had also just managed one point in its past four matches against Lecce.
However, after a mediocre first half, Lazio took the lead when Nicolò Rovella played a through-ball to Luis Alberto, who immediately laid it off for Felipe Anderson to blast into the roof of the net.
Lecce had chances to equalize and should have done so in the 67th minute but Nikola Krstović headed wide of the right post from five yards.
LATE PENALTY
Fiorentina needed a late penalty to rescue a 2-2 draw at home to Udinese. M’Bala Nzola fired into the bottom right corner with three minutes remaining after João Ferreira had been penalized for handball.
Fiorentina could have even won the match but Giacomo Bonaventura's strike came off the right post in stoppage time.
Udinese had twice taken the lead through Sandi Lovrić and Florian Thauvin. Lucas Beltrán had netted the first equalizer for Fiorentina before Nzola's penalty.
Udinese is a point above the relegation zone and level on points with Cagliari after Claudio Ranieri's side came from behind to beat Bologna 2-1.
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