Serie A: AC Milan extend their lead and Inter fail to win again

(Football news) AC Milan continued their good form in the league after they managed to secure a narrow 1-0 victory over Cagliari. A brilliant strike from Ismael Bennacer earned AC Milan all three points as Stefano Pioli's side maintained a three-point lead at the top of Serie A. It took the Rossenari 59 minutes to find the winner, and it was worth the wait as Olivier Giroud laid the ball off for Bennacer to volley into the net from the edge of the penalty area. Milan survived a major scare late on when Leonardo Pavoletti's last-gasp header came off the crossbar but the leaders defended really well and moved onto 66 points from 30 matches, three clear of Napoli and six ahead of Inter Milan in third.

Inter dropped points again as their hopes of retaining the Scudetto looks to fade away after a disappointing 1-1 against Fiorentina. Inter were top of the table last month but since then they have won only one of their last seven games and now sit third on 60 points. The goalkeepers were very busy in the first half which ended goalless, with Inter's Samir Handanovic called into action to stop long-range efforts from the Viola players, while Fiorentina goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano denied Edin Dzeko from close range.

The visitors' pressure paid dividends early in the second half when Gaetano Castrovilli cut open Inter's defence and then found Nicolas Gonzalez in the box, whose cut-back was fired in by Torreira. Inter responded five minutes later after Ivan Perisic floated a cross into the box to find Dumfries who was unmarked and headed home the equaliser. Inter also had a penalty overturned by the VAR as Jonathan Ikone nearly scored a winner for Fiorentina in added time but Handanovic came to the rescue with an extraordinary save as both sides shared the spoils.

"Ikone could have given us a nice gift in the last minutes, but I'm happy with what the boys did today. I didn't realise Torreira lost a tooth, but I can only congratulate him on how he gets there in front, he has the right timing as a goalscorer while others are struggling” Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Italiano said.

"There is bitterness. We wanted to win tonight and turn the situation around. We have to get back to our levels, there is quality in Inter and we have to go back to showing it. I'm happy for my goal but not for the final result." Dumfries said.

Napoli again rode on Osimhen brilliance as they maintained pressure on AC Milan on the top of the table with a 2-1 victory over Udinese. A second successive double from Victor Osimhen earned Napoli a crucial victory. They were looking to make it back-to-back league wins for the first time since late January, but Napoli fell behind in the 22nd minute after Gerard Deulofeu scored for Udinese. The hosts looked like a different side in the second half, and turned the match on its head as striker Osimhen scored his first goal with a bullet header to level the match seven minutes after the halftime break, before a clever near-post finish 11 minutes later to completely turn the match upside down. Pablo Mari's late red card ended Udinese's hopes of making a comeback at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, as Napoli saw move onto 63 points.

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