The China Mail - AC Milan take Serie A lead after fraught win over Lazio

Rafael Leao forced home the only goal of a scrappy game at the San Siro in the 51st minute, with the Portugal attacker meeting Fikayo Tomori's powerful low cross to score his sixth goal of the season.

But the result hinged on referee Giuseppe Collu's decision to deny Lazio a penalty for a Strahinja Pavlovic handball deep in stoppage time.

Leao's goal had been the highlight of a largely tepid encounter until Collu was called to the pitchside monitors to make his decision -- something he could not do for minutes due to the protests of Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri and chaos in both teams' dugouts.

Allegri was sent off for dissent before Collu even looked at the images, while Lazio were enraged at being denied a spot-kick, not because the referee decided that Pavlovic did not handle the ball, but because he claimed that the Serbia defender was fouled by Adam Marusic.

That decision led to Lazio refusing to talk to media after the match, while Allegri immediately switched to a more diplomatic tone.

"It wasn't easy for the referee to make that decision afer being called over by VAR," said Allegri to Sky Sport, insisting that he did not insult Collu.

Milan will stay top unless Roma beat Napoli on Sunday night or the reigning champions come away from the Stadio Olimpico in Rome with an away win by a margin of two goals or more.

Goalkeeper Mike Maignan again proved his worth after a match-winning performance in last weekend's Milan derby, keeping out Mario Gila's well-directed header moments after kick-off.

The France goalkeeper's contract expires at the end of the season but ahead of kick-off Milan's sporting director Igli Tare hinted that an extension would be agreed.

Lazio stay eighth on 18 points after a fifth defeat of the season which left them five points behind seventh-placed Juventus, who beat Cagliari 2-1 earlier on Saturday.

- Yildiz saves Juve again -

Kenan Yildiz gave Luciano Spalletti his first home win as Juve coach with a crucial brace: the Turkey forward saving his team's blushes in stoppage time at the end of the first half with a typically stylish finish.

That was Yildiz's fifth goal of the season for Juve and came after he levelled the scores in the 27th minute, seconds after Sebastiano Esposito gave Cagliari a shock lead.

"Yildiz has the qualities of a great player -- he gave us the win out of nothing," said Spalletti.

"I'm trying to give him as much freedom as possible and liberate him from tactical concerns. He's really great in tight spaces."

Juve are six points behind Milan after impressive Yildiz display.

The 20-year-old came off the bench to drive Juve to a 3-2 victory at Bodo/Glimt on Tuesday night -- the "Old Lady" of Italian football's first win in the Champions League this season.

Spalletti said that he is "enthusiastic" to head back to Naples on Sunday week for one of the fieriest rivalries in the game.

He will likely have to face Napoli, the team he led to a historic third league title in 2023, without Dusan Vlahovic after the Serbia striker picked up what looked like a thigh injury in the first half.

That is a blow for Spalletti, who has made Vlahovic his first-choice centre forward as he tries to inspire the Turin giants following the sacking of Igor Tudor.

Earlier, Daniele De Rossi earned his first win as Genoa coach after his team came back from a goal down to beat bottom side Verona 2-1 and move outside the relegation zone.

Morten Thorsby's goal gave Genoa their first home win since April as De Rossi continued his unbeaten start as coach after replacing Patrick Vieira earlier this month.

G.Tsang--ThChM