Milan defeat city rivals Inter in Scudetto showdown

Alexandre Pato scored two goals and Cassano scored the third from the penalty spot. 

Milan went into the match without their star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had to sit out due to suspension. Inter were without their Lucio, and this hampered Inter throughout the match.

Milan’s Pato was the star of the evening as he scored the opening goal in the first minute of the match. Pato’s second goal arrived on the 62^nd  minute.

Cassano scored from the penalty spot on the 90^th  minute.

During the match Inter’s Chivu was sent off after he brought Pato down just  outside the area. Cassano was sent off carelessly went he received his second yellow card after a foul on Ivan Cordoba.

"I don't consider it a surrender, even if five points are a lot," said Leonardo as he commented on the defeat against AC Milan. "The match was conditioned by the goal in the 1st minute. It upset the tactics of the game and conditioned us psychologically. If just one of those two chances we had at the end of the first half had gone in, we would have come out after half time with a different attitude; then after ten minutes of the second half came the sending-off which made it all more difficult, even if AC Milan deserved it, too. We didn't manage to get into our stride, going one nil down in the first minute put us off our game.”

"We weren't able to set our forwards off and had difficulty creating spaces. We weren't able to make many chances even if we could have at the end of the first half. Pato? I know him well, I wasn't surprised at all. Anyway even if it was an important game to lose, I'm not too disappointed. There's still a long way to go, and let's not forget that on Tuesday we have a quarter-final tie in the Champions League waiting for us," he said.

Leonardo was then asked about how the AC Milan fans reacted to him: "I've already said this. I respect everyone's feelings, but I know what I've been through and what I'm going through now. I heard and I saw, but I respect their feelings," he added.

Milan coach Max Allegri had words of praise for his side. “It is not the game that wins the Scudetto, even if we’ve given our table a good boost,” he said of Milan’s 3-0 victory over rivals Inter.

“After the last few weeks this success can be a psychological turning point. We were too slow in the first half and didn’t finish off our moves, while we did better after the break.

“The victory is more than deserved and the team did a great job. Pato had a great game and was very good at attacking the two Inter centre-backs,” continued Allegri.

“It’s a shame about Cassano and unfortunately there is this habit of taking your shirt off to celebrate. Antonio knew that was the case and could’ve avoided the foul later on,” Concluded Allegri.

In the earlier match, Brescia defeated Bologna 3-1.

This victory gives Brescia some hope of avoiding the drop to Serie B.

Perparim Hetemaj put Brescia  in front after only three minutes and Davide Zoboli added a second six minutes later. 

Marco Di Vaio scored the equaliser on the 30th  minute, but a penalty from Andrea Caracciolo in the 65th minute sealed the win for Brescia.