Rome (AFP)

A Milan more "zlatanesque" than ever: the indestructible Ibrahimovic drew a gesture of which he has the secret - an acrobatic return a few minutes from the end - to offer another victory to AC Milan on the ground of Udinese ( 2-1) and consolidate the first place in the Rossoneri championship.

The Swedish star, at the top of the scorers standings with seven goals, took a bad step out of his Milan, who had been joined at the start of the second half on a penalty (De Paul, 48th) after opening the scoring by Kessie (18th), already on an impeccable service behind "Ibra".

Milan, which stretches its unbeaten streak to 24 consecutive matches since the resumption of competition in June, has four points ahead of Atalanta (2nd, 12 pts) before the match between Napoli (3rd, 11 pts) and Sassuolo (4th, 11 pts) in the evening.

"It's a great goal, yes, but the most important thing is to win. The game was not easy, but you can see in difficult times that the team is working well," commented Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 39 years, on DAZN.

The Milanese, visibly damaged physically by the accumulation of matches in a season where they had to play three preliminary rounds of the Europa League, have indeed played intermittently.

They initially fell too far after opening the scoring.

Logically joined on the return from the locker room by a voluntary Udinese, they finished better, especially after the entry into play of Brahim Diaz and Sandro Tonali, shortly before the hour mark.

In addition to an always impeccable state of mind, the Lombard coach Stefano Pioli will also have had the satisfaction of recording two important returns, four days from receiving Lille in the Europa League.

Gianluigi Donnarumma resumed his place in the Milanese cage, less than a week after the announcement of his positive test for Covid-19, bringing a little confidence behind after the interim of Ciprian Tatarusanu.

And the attack found the Croatian Ante Rebic, who came into play for twenty minutes after an elbow injury that kept him away from the field for more than a month.

© 2020 AFP