A stunning long-range strike by Valter Birsa helped AC Milan end their poor run of Serie A form with a scrappy 1-0 home win over Udinese on Saturday. In the day's other match Cagliari came from a goal down to beat 10-man Catania 2-1 on their return to the Sant'Elia stadium after an 18-month absence.
Birsa gave injury-ravaged Milan, who were without a host of players including striker Mario Balotelli, their third league win of the season following a 22nd-minute counter attack.
Despite a far from convincing display during which Brazilian Kaka made an uneventful 20-minute cameo appearance, Massimiliano Allegri's side leapfrogged Udinese into eighth place with 11 points from eight games. Milan had stand-in Brazilian goalkeeper Gabriel to thank for brilliantly tipping Antonio Di Natale's 64th-minute free kick on to the crossbar.
He stepped in at the last minute after first-choice Christian Abbiati dropped out with a calf injury.
Catania took a deserved lead in Sardinia through Gonzalo Bergessio who headed home a powerful opener from a fifth-minute corner.
Comments
Comments are closed.