Calhanoglu Keeps AC Milan In Title Chase
Milan kept alive their faint hopes of Serie A title glory as Hakan Calhanoglu’s fine strike sealed a pulsating 3-2 win over Fiorentina on Sunday.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic had put them ahead after nine minutes to become the oldest player to reach 15 goals in a single Serie A season, aged 39 years and 169 days, but Erick Pulgar restored parity soon after.
Fiorentina took the lead shortly after the break thanks to a cool finish from Franck Ribery, yet Milan powered back thanks to Brahim Diaz and Calhanoglu’s winner 19 minutes from full-time.
The result means Milan move to within six points of leaders Inter, whose game against Sassuolo this weekend was called off after a COVID-19 outbreak at the club.
Fikayo Tomori cleared Martin Caceres’ header off the line after five minutes as the hosts started brightly, but it was Milan who struck first.
Simon Kjaer’s clipped ball over the top found Ibrahimovic and the Sweden international struck past an exposed Bartlomiej Dragowski.
That lead was cancelled out after 17 minutes, though, when Pulgar whipped a free-kick into Gianluigi Donnarumma’s top-right corner from 20 yards.
Both sides struck the crossbar before half-time, German Pezzella denied after an inventive flick from Valentin Eysseric’s corner, while Ibrahimovic clipped against the frame of the goal after being played in by Calhanoglu.
La Viola went ahead six minutes after the restart, Ribery stroking home his second top-flight goal of the season from 15 yards after he had been teed up by Dusan Vlahovic.
The Rossoneri drew level in the 57th minute, however, when Diaz reacted quickest to poke home Kjaer’s knockdown from a corner.
Ibrahimovic struck the post with a cross before Calhanoglu slotted into substitute goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano’s bottom-left corner from just inside the penalty area to ensure neighbours Inter cannot relax just yet.
