By Petar Todorovski
Cesena didn’t show capacity to steal some points from San Siro. Milan routinely collected another three points winning with 2-0, scoring seconds before the end of each half. The win came few hours after the loss of their city rivals and Scudetto opponent Inter, but the advantage on top remained four points as Napoli managed to win as well.
Rossoneri started the game slowly and were close to conceding first. In 17th minute Luca Antonini made a huge mistake that led to a scoring opportunity for Matias Schelotto, but Christian Abbiati did a great job denying his attempt.
In 23rd minute there was bad news for Massimiliano Allegri. Alessandro Nesta injured his shoulder and had to leave the pitch. However, Milan woke up right after and finally began to look dangerous.
Robinho had the first chance in 26th minute, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed the greatest one in 30th minute. Antonio Cassano created a wonderful chance for the wonderful Swede, but lost the one-on-one battle with Seahorses goalie Francesco Antonioli.
Milan youngster Alexander Merkel showed his lack of experience in the next chance in 37th minute. He picked up the ball in a manner of experienced player, but then panicked and the opportunity to open the result was gone.
What Rossoneri failed to do was gained by Cesena defense. Just like he did last weekend when Seahorses lost from Roma, defender Pellegrino put the ball into his own net once again. The action started with a wonderful attack made by Antonio Cassano that continued with picking up the ball by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but finished with Pellegrino’s unsuccessful effort to clear up, as he just tapped the ball into the net. Although Milan gained the lead luckily, they totally deserved that.
The second half was much more boring than the first one. Cesena made some brave but unsuccessful attempts to equalize, while Rossoneri were waiting for their chance. That came in 77th minute, but Robinho failed to convert into goal the one-on-one opportunity.
The victory was secured just before the full time whistle with an amazing goal by Zlatan Ibrahomovic. The magician of a striker netted from a tight angle with a lot of power. The game ended with a result 2-0.
Massimiliano Allegri was cautious after the game, putting light on Alessandro Nesta injury rather than the points. “We dominated the game. Cesena did good things in the first half as we were in emergency without Alessandro Nesta, and with Thiago Silva in midfield,” he said.
Unlike him defender Mario Yepes expressed his delight of the ambient in the team. He received some great comments by, believe it or not, Zlatan Ibrahimovic recently. “His words meant so much to me. We are a unified group in the dressing room,” he said, confirming the great atmosphere in the club.
Milan are still first with four points ahead of Napoli. However, the good news come from city rivals Inter who suffered a tough defeat by Udinese. Now the threat of getting close to only three points behind Milan is gone, at least for now. Rossoneri travel to Sicily to meat Catania in the next game.
