Derby delight rejuvenates AC Milan as Serie A’s title race stalls

AC Milan go into Friday night’s clash with Lecce with a spring in their step and the Serie A summit in their sights after kick-starting their season with victory in the Milan derby.

Paulo Fonseca’s side open the weekend’s action at the San Siro in front of fans ready to hail the heroes of a last-gasp win over Inter Milan which snapped a painful six-match losing streak against their local rivals.

Milan were deserved winners over Inter and the manner of Sunday’s victory has got supporters back on side after a wave of criticism threatened to derail their season before the end of September.

Fonseca’s position as coach had even been called into question ahead of the derby but the Portuguese’s job is secure with a tough Champions League fixture at Bayer Leverkusen coming up after Lecce.

Tuesday’s clash in Germany will be key for Fonseca after his team were given a footballing lesson on their patch by Liverpool earlier this month, a 3-1 thumping which made derby victory an even bigger relief.

“We have to keep improving… winning today doesn’t make us the best team around, and we weren’t the worst team before playing today,” said Fonseca on Sunday night.

“We need to keep ourselves on an even keel, that’s what I want from my team right now.”

A win over Lecce will put Milan provisionally top of the pile on goal difference ahead of Torino, who host Lazio on Sunday after being knocked out of the Italian Cup by Empoli midweek.

Friday’s opposition should be easy meat for Milan, as Lecce make the long trip north a point above the relegation zone after a horrendous week.

Luca Gotti’s team threw away a two-goal lead against Parma last weekend by conceding a brace of stoppage-time strikes and followed that up by being dumped out of the Cup by second-tier Sassuolo.

And Fonseca looks likely to start with the same starting XI as in the derby, with Tammy Abraham leading the line and Alvaro Morata nestling in behind him, alongside Rafael Leao and in-form Christian Pulisic.

Champions Inter are at Udinese on Saturday afternoon without injured midfield star Nicolo Barella, whose thigh injury suffered during the derby is also likely to keep him out of Tuesday’s visit of Red Star Belgrade.

Napoli face Monza on Saturday night as a four-team battle for early season supremacy hots up, with Antonio Conte’s team, Inter, Milan and Juve — at Genoa — all as yet failing to strike out on their own.

Bologna host Atalanta on Saturday as the two big stories of last season try to get their new campaigns back on track.

Both teams are in the Champions League after breaking new ground last term but are in uncertain form ahead of two difficult away fixtures in Europe’s top club competition, level on six points from their first five fixtures.

Bologna, now coached by Vincenzo Italiano face a daunting trip to Anfield to face Liverpool next week while Atalanta are at Shakhtar Donetsk having slumped to a shock 3-1 home defeat by promoted Como on Tuesday night.

Player to watch: Dusan Vlahovic

Thiago Motta’s arrival at Juventus was tipped to give Vlahovic a new lease of life after he suffered with the negative football the Turin giants expressed under former boss Massimiliano Allegri.

But the Serbia striker, who has never reached the same heights he did at Fiorentina, has been starved of service and wasted the good opportunities that have fallen his way during Juve’s three straight goalless draws in Serie A.

Vlahovic admitted in an interview with DAZN that Motta’s style “fits me better” but he has failed to score in five of his six appearances this season and looks out of sorts ahead of Saturday’s trip to Genoa, where Juve can move into top spot with a win. (BSS/AFP)