Carlos Bacca scored twice for Milan to give them a 3-1 victory over Chievo. Milan remain sixth in the League, but continue to hope they can end the season in one of the European places in Serie A.
Milan greatly dominated the game throughout. Bacca was the main threat, against Chievo, creating numerous chances. The striker came close to scoring a hat-trick, but missed a penalty in the first half.
Montella’s players seemed motivated from the first whistle. With an unbeaten streak of five matches, Milan knew a victory could help them tie with fifth place Lazio. Winning points was all the more important as Milan travel next week to champions Juventus.
Elsewhere, Chievo were in a comfortable mid table 11th place. Throughout the game against Milan focus for the team was mainly on defensive duties and trying to score on the break. Chievo’s goal came through a spot-kick confidently handled by De Guzman. Birsa and Cacciatore also kept Gianluigi Donnarumma alert, but throughout the game it never looked like Milan was going to let victory slip away.
Bacca was the man of the match, with the striker firing seven shots on goal, a new record for the Colombian. Milan proved once again they are a very consistent team when playing at home. In the last ten games played at the San Siro this season, Milan have won nine in which they have taken the lead.
AC Milan manager Vincenzo Montella spoke about the classic rivalry between his team and Inter Milan. Milan and Inter have largely underperformed in recent seasons. Milan are currently two points ahead of their rivals who sit in seventh place.
“I have not looked at the standings,” he told Mediaset Premium. “It’s nice to win before the others play. It will be a very sweet Sunday seeing how they do. [Being above Inter] is not important. Inter are not our only rival, we must aim to qualify for Europe. I would not like to get ahead of Inter and not get into Europe.”
Striker Carlos Bacca talked about the support he has been shown by his team-mates and Milan’s supporters.
“I was going through a difficult time and not scoring goals, but everyone always let me feel their support,” he said. “It’s important to feel the fans, my team-mates and the coach support me. I am happy, but have to work even harder. We need to take it one game at a time, we won a difficult match and from [Sunday] we’ll start thinking about Juventus. I scored two goals and I am happy.”
