MILAN — AC Milan moved top of Serie A yesterday after surviving a late penalty controversy to beat Lazio 1-0 and take a one-point lead over Roma ahead of the capital club’s headline clash with Napoli.
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 tonight 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 yesterday.
