AC Milan battled to a 1-0 win over Empoli at San Siro on Saturday, with Pierre Kalulu’s strike securing all three points for the Rossoneri.
In what was a scrappy encounter that lacked any real quality in attack from either side, Milan were able to take a lead midway through the first half with Kalulu finding the back of the net from the edge of the box.
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Olivier Giroud’s initial free-kick was blocked by the Empoli wall into the path of Kalulu, with the Frenchman showing great composure and control to bend his effort into the corner.
As the game progressed, Milan continued to struggle to offer any real threat going forward with our attacking players all failing to have an influence on the game, and that in turn left us vulnerable as Empoli had their moments.
Mike Maignan was called into action on a few occasions in the second half and was more than up to the task as he kept Empoli at bay, and while we were unable to dominate the game, we seemingly did maintain some level of control over the encounter for the most part to limit the pressure we came under.
Stefano Pioli’s side were ultimately able to hold on for all three points, which moves us five points clear at the top of the Serie A table temporarily, with rivals Inter still having two games in hand.
While it wasn’t convincing and there are still concerns about Milan’s ability to make these fixtures more comfortable as we looked prone to another slip-up, the most important thing was that we were able to pick up another win along with another clean sheet and continue to put pressure on Inter in the Scudetto race.
