In the battle of European hopefuls, AC Milan continued their unbeaten start as they defeated Atalanta 3-2. Meanwhile, the Giallorossi found themselves fourth on the Serie A table at the end of the matchday, thanks to their 2-0 win over Empoli.
Stefano Pioli’s men took the lead inside the first 27 seconds of the match through captain Davide Calabria. The right-back collected a pass from his counterpart Theo Hernandez, broke through the last line of the opposition’s defence, and scored past Juan Musso on the second time of asking.
The Rossoneri consolidated their perfect start to the match by scoring a second goal before the interval. Sandro Tonali pickpocketed Remo Freuler high up the pitch, drove forwards unchallenged, and finished emphatically past Musso.
Rafael Leao continued his hot streak by scoring Milan’s third in the 78th minute. The Portuguese forward slammed his shot into the top corner after being played through by Theo.
Atalanta fought back late on, and Duvan Zapata pulled one back from the spot – firing his penalty kick into the roof of the net. The Columbian then turned provider for Mario Pasalic, who converted his cross at the back post in the fourth minute of stoppage time. Milan, however, held on and finished the matchday second behind Napoli.
At Stadio Olimpico, AS Roma registered a comfortable 2-0 win over Empoli to climb to fourth in the league table. Andrea Pinamonti had a couple of early sighters for the away side, but the forward barely troubled Rui Patricio in goal.
Jose Mourinho’s side, on the contrary, made their chances count. First through captain Lorenzo Pellegrini, who gave them the lead in the 42nd minute after driving through the heart of Empoli’s defense before firing past the goalkeeper.
Roma doubled their lead three minutes after the restart through Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who had Tammy Abraham to thank for his goal. The England international forced an error high up the pitch and struck the crossbar in the same phase of play. The ball fell to Mkhitaryan, who had an empty goal to aim at.
