Milan move to second after thrashing Chievo

Posted on November 28, 2011 by SoccerPunter

AC Milan sent out an ominous warning to their title rivals with a 4-0 thrashing of Chievo at the San Siro on Sunday that moved them into second place in Italian Serie A.

Milan trail unbeaten leaders Juventus, who won 1-0 at Lazio on Saturday, by a single point.

The champions made short work of Chievo, leading 4-0 at half-time after goals from Brazilians Thiago Silva and Pato and a brace from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Milan gave an indication of their intent early on when Ibrahimovic fired a vicious shot that beat Stefano Sorrentino but landed on the roof of the net.

Yet on eight minutes they went in front as Thiago Silva took a pass from Kevin-Prince Boateng and sent a precise shot from 25 yards into the bottom corner.

Chievo almost replied immediately but Marco Amelia blocked Sergio Pellissier’s shot from close in.

And on 16 minutes they were made to pay as Ibrahimovic took a pass from Alberto Aquilani and curled a delicious shot from 20 yards into the top corner for his 100th goal in Serie A.

Chievo simply couldn’t live with their hosts, although their defending wasn’t helping them.

Aquilani met a corner on the volley from outside the area, his shot hitting Luciano and falling into space where Pato was by far the quickest to react to slot the ball into the empty net after 33 minutes.

The fourth seemed unfortunate as Pato crumpled in the area when going shoulder to shoulder with Luciano and the referee pointed to the spot.

Ibrahimovic made no mistake from 12 yards, finding the same top corner as earlier.

Luc Castaignos scored the winner a minute from time as Inter Milan won 1-0 at Siena.

Following their 2-1 home win over Cagliari last weekend, it was the first time this season that Inter had won successive league matches.

Claudio Ranieri’s team remain in the bottom half of the table but, with 14 points, they are now just one win away from sixth-placed Roma.

“It was an important game, every game is like a final for us because we have to move up (the table),” Castaignos told Sky.

“We’re taking it day by day and match by match and if we do this it’s going to be good for us.”

The first half was a cagey affair with few chances for either side.

Ricardo Alvarez crossed from the right for Inter and Giampaolo Pazzini’s flick-on found Mauro Zarate, but his header was straight at goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic.

Siena’s best attempt came right at the end of the half when Emanuele Calaio held off Samuel but dragged his shot wide of the far post.

Ranieri tried to inject some life into his side by introducing Nigeria midfielder Joel Obi and Dutch teenager Castaignos at the break for Alvarez and Zarate.

Almost nothing happened in the second half until a minute from time when Thiago Motta slipped the ball into Castaignos, on the edge of the box.

The Dutchman turned and shot in one movement, with the ball creeping inside the far post.

Elsewhere, Cesena moved off the bottom of the table after Romania forward Adrian Mutu scored a brace, including one from the penalty spot, to give his side a 2-0 win over Genoa.

Having gone 10 games without a victory at the beginning of the season, it was Cesena’s second win in a row, giving coach Daniele Arrigoni two wins in three matches since taking over from Marco Giampaolo.

Giampaolo was sacked at the beginning of the month following a haul of just three points in nine games.

Palermo moved up to fifth with a 2-0 win over Fiorentina, who drop to 16th, as Fabrizio Miccoli and Josip Ilicic scored the goals in Sicily.