Napoli continued chasing Milan by turning the tables on its guest, Udinese, 2-1, while Inter Milan, the defending champion, continued to bleed points, with a 1-1 draw with its guest, Fiorentina.
In the first match at the “Sardinia Arena”, Ben Nasser saved his team Milan from the trap of the seventh Cagliari, who is struggling to survive, by scoring the winning goal with a wonderful shot “on the fly” from outside the area after a ball from French Olivier Giroud, who was placed on the right of goalkeeper Alessio Cranio, who only watched her embrace his net (59).
It is the third win in a row and the 20th this season for Milan, who is seeking his first title since the 2010-2011 season, and the nineteenth in its history to catch up with his neighbor Inter Milan in second place on the list of clubs most crowned in the league behind Juventus (36 times), raising his score to 66 points, three points ahead of Napoli and six points against its neighbor Inter, who has a game in hand against Bologna.
As usual, Milan continued to suffer in front of the modest teams and was close to falling into the trap of a tie, had it not been for the crossbar that prevented striker Leonardo Pavoletti from equalizing in the last minute by returning his header from close range before being picked up by French goalkeeper Mike Minnen.
Milan often presents its best performances against strong teams, particularly its neighbor Inter, after its victory over it in the league last month and its goalless draw with it in the first leg of the Italian Cup semi-finals, and then returning with a precious victory over Napoli in the last week before last to be unique.
But Milan’s problem was that it wasted valuable points against modest teams, as happened with Salerentina, who finished last (2-2) and Udinese 1-1.
Napoli continued to tighten the screws on Milan by turning the tables on its guest, Udinese, with the double of its Nigerian international striker, Victor Osimhen.
Udinese was the first to score through its Spanish striker Gerard Deulofeu in the 22nd minute with a creeping shot, but Napoli hit hard in the second half and scored two goals through striker Osimhen in the 52nd minute with a header and 63 with a shot “on the fly”, raising his score to 11 goals on the scorers list, and to 15 goals in various competitions.
Udinese completed the match with ten men after its Spanish defender Pablo Mari was sent off in the 83rd minute.
It is the second win in a row for Napoli and the nineteenth this season.
Osimhen expressed his optimism about his team’s ability to compete for the title and claim it for the third time in its history after 1987 and 1990 led by the late Argentine legend Diego Armando Maradona.
He told the “Dazn” broadcasting platform: “We still believe in that, we still have eight matches, we want to continue winning every match, and in the end we will see. I still believe in the Scudetto.”
On the other hand, Udinese’s balance froze at 30 points, in the fourteenth place.
In the third, the defending champion Inter Milan continued to bleed points by falling into the trap of a 1-1 draw against its guest, Fiorentina.
It is the second draw in a row after the first against its host Turin, with the same result in the last stage.
It is also the fourth tie for Inter Milan in its last seven matches, during which it achieved only one victory, which made it relatively difficult to defend the title.
Coach Simone Inzaghi’s men consolidated their position in third place with 60 points, compared to 47 points for eighth Fiorentina.
Inter Milan allowed the fourth Juventus to reduce the difference between them to one point in the event of the latter’s victory over Salernitana on Sunday at the end of the stage, knowing that they will meet at the summit of the next stage in Turin on the third of next April.
Inter Milan faced a big club from Fiorentina and suffered both times to reach his goal, although he did it in the 40th minute through Argentine striker Lautaro Martinis, following a close distance, but referee Daniele Shevi canceled it for offside after resorting to the video assistant referee “VAR”.
The guests succeeded in opening the scoring at the beginning of the second half, their Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira, when he followed a pass from inside the area to Argentine Nicolas Gonzalez with a powerful shot from close range into the goal (50).
Fiorentina’s joy lasted only five minutes, as Dutch international defender Denzel Damfris equalized with a header after a pass from Croatian winger Ivan Pericic (55).
Chilean international substitute Alexis Sanchez almost gave Inter Milan the winning goal with a powerful shot from inside the area, but it hit one of the defenders and crossed the crossbar (89).
On the other hand, the veteran Slovenian international goalkeeper Samir Handanovic saved the defending champion from losing by stopping alone substitute Jonathan Ikone in the last fourth minute of overtime.
Inzaghi commented, “I would be more worried if the team did not create chances… In the second half we created a lot of chances. We might not get the desired results, but the team was creating chances without translating them.”
Sunday also plays Venezia with Sampdoria, Empoli with Verona, Roma with Lazio, and Bologna with Atalanta.