AC Milan consolidate second in Serie A with tight Fiorentina win

Gianluca Scamacca successfully scored for Atalanta during the Napoli match (GABRIEL BOUYS)

On Saturday, AC Milan achieved a valuable victory over Fiorentina, solidifying their second place position in Serie A. The match was heavily contested, resulting in a 2-1 win for AC Milan. Meanwhile, Juventus were defeated by Lazio in the final seconds of their match by an Adam Marusic header.

Stefano Pioli's team narrowed the huge difference from the dominant league leaders Inter Milan, with a gap of only 11 points after scoring impressive goals in the second half by Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Rafael Leao. Inter Milan will host Empoli on Easter Monday.

What matters most is that Milan secured their sixth consecutive victory across all competitions. This allowed them to capitalize on Juve's loss by one goal in Rome, and establish a six-point lead against their historic rivals with eight matches left to play.

According to Leao, what matters most is the way you end the season rather than how you begin it. He stated this in an interview with DAZN.

Our aim is to conclude this season on a high note as we have crucial games in the pipeline.

Milan emerged victorious in Florence largely due to the impressive performance of Mike Maignan. He made a number of crucial saves both before and after Leao's goal, in which he skillfully evaded Fiorentina's goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano and scored the winning point in the 53rd minute.

Leao scored his fifth goal of the league season during a fast-paced start to the second half. The game saw Milan take the lead in the 47th minute thanks to Loftus-Cheek's goal, which came after being set up by Leao's clever backheeled pass. However, Leao's performance throughout the campaign has been inconsistent.

Soon after, Alfred Duncan equalized for Fiorentina by expertly firing a low shot past Maignan's outstretched arms. However, their hopes were immediately crushed as Leao swiftly responded by scoring to help Milan secure a significant victory.

Fiorentina, bid farewell to their late former general manager, Giuseppe "Joe" Barone, and slipped to the tenth position after losing their game. Torino, on the other hand, emerged victorious with a 1-0 win over Monza earlier that day.

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Marusic landed a powerful strike into the net from Matteo Guendouzi's faultless bending pass during the third minute beyond regular time at the Stadio Olimpico, succeeding in securing a win in Igor Tudor's debut match as the coach of Lazio.

Lazio moved up to seventh place in the rankings thanks to the first goal of the season scored by the Montenegrin defender, beating Napoli by one point and one place. Meanwhile, Atalanta humiliated Napoli with a 3-0 victory at home.

Lazio needs to gain eight points to reach the last Champions League spot, which is currently held by Bologna in fourth place. Their upcoming match against Salernitana will be on Monday.

"You couldn't hope for a better beginning. I'm thrilled for the guys as they couldn't have performed any better considering the limited time we had," Tudor stated in an interview with DAZN.

Juve is facing a tough time as they suffered a loss in the Italian capital, causing them to go without a victory for four matches. This has put them in a position where they might have to fight for a spot in the Champions League.

Massimiliano Allegri's team has only managed to collect seven points in the last nine games. They are currently eight points ahead of Roma, who are in fifth place. Roma will be playing against Lecce on Monday.

Allegri expressed to DAZN that conceding the kind of goal we did with only 10 seconds left is not acceptable.

We feel equally frustrated with how we lost the game as we do with the actual loss.

Napoli in poor form.

Napoli fell far behind Bologna in their match against Atalanta due to first-half goals scored by Aleksei Miranchuk and Gianluca Scamacca. They were unable to catch up even with a late goal scored by Teun Koopmeiners. Atalanta's win was dominant and convincing.

Francesco Calzona's team has a very slim chance of securing a spot in the upcoming revamped Champions League unless Italy is granted an additional spot. This is because they currently trail Roma by six points.

Calzona, the new coach of Napoli, expressed doubt about the team's chances of making it to the finals after their first loss in the league. Although they have not been mathematically eliminated from the competition, he admitted that their prospects are bleak.

Roma and Bologna will both have to voyage towards the southern region for games at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona before the season concludes. Meanwhile, Atalanta is lurking just one point behind Roma but still has a game left to play.

The teammates of Juan Jesus in Napoli kneeled together before the Serie A anthem began before their game. Fans from the stands expressed their opposition to racism by shouting "no to racism."

Jesus and Napoli were left shocked when the Italian Football Federation's disciplinary panel found Inter Milan defender Francesco Acerbi not guilty of racially abusing Jesus during a game that took place a fortnight ago, citing insufficient proof.