AC Milan kept pressure on Serie A leaders Inter Milan with a clinical 3-1 win over AS Roma as action returned on Thursday night.
An early Olivier Giroud penalty set the hosts to a big win, with Junior Messias adding a second in the 17th minute.
Tammy Abraham grabbed Roma’s consolation just before the break, but Rafael Leao scored late on to ensure there was no nervy ending to the match.
The clash became chaotic in the last quarter of an hour as the visitors were reduced to nine men when Rick Karsdrop and Gianluca Mancini were shown red cards, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed a penalty.
Jose Mourinho’s men are now outside the European places with both Atalanta and Fiorentina having played a game less.
In another match, Napoli dropped further in the race for the top prize as they were held to a draw by Juventus in Turin.
Luciano Spalletti’s men took the lead through Dries Mertens early in the first half but Federico Chiesa pulled the hosts level in the second half.
The draw means Napoli are six points off league leaders Inter Milan, while Juventus remain fifth on 35 points.
The highlight of the day was at Lazio as the hosts battled to a 3-3 draw against Empoli.
Nedim Bajrami and Szymon Zurkowiski gave Empoli an early 2-0 lead, only for Ciro Immobile and Sergej Milinkovic Savic to pull Maurizio Sarri’s men level.
Federico Di Francesco then restored Empoli’s lead with 15 minutes to go, only for Immobile to miss a penalty three minutes from time.
Milinkovic Savic then hit a last-minute equaliser to see the two sides share points.
Thursday’s Serie A scores
- Sampdoria 1-2 Cagliari
- Spezia 1-2 Verona
- Lazio 3-3 Empoli
- Sassuolo 1-1 Genoa
- AC Milan 3-1 Roma
- Juventus 1-1 Napoli
A number of matches were however postponed due to the ravaging Covid-19 virus, including that of Bologna against leaders, Inter Milan.
Abandoned matches due to COVID
- Bologna vs. Inter Milan
- Atalanta vs. Torino
- Salernitana vs. Venezia
- Fiorentina vs. Udinese
