Rome (AFP)

AC Milan, which relaunched Sunday night at the Olimpico against Roma (2-1), and Inter Milan, easy leader against Genoa (3-0), escape at the top of the Championship Italy taking advantage of the points lost Saturday by Juventus in Verona (1-1).

Inter can dream harder and harder.

The Nerazzurri keep four points ahead of their dolphin Rossonero but now have ten over the Bianconeri, themselves joined in third place by Atalanta Bergamo after their victory over Sampdoria (2-0) in Genoa.

- Milan gives back his voice -

After their two defeats against La Spezia and Inter in the derby, Milan have found their voice.

In an intense match on many occasions (17 shots for Roma, 20 for Milan) between two teams who had yet played Thursday in the Europa League, the Milanese opened the scoring on a penalty from Franck Kessié (43rd).

Roma quickly came back on a nice strike from Jordan Veretout (50th) but was punished on one of his too many defensive approximations of the evening: a bad clearance from goalkeeper giallorosso Paul Lopez was quickly exploited by the Rossoneri and concluded by Ante Rebic (58th).

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was already out at that point in the match, obviously not at his best physically and replaced in the 55th minute.

An early exit for the Swedish star on the eve of a special week: all week long, he will indeed be the star guest of the San Remo song festival, a great cathodic event popular with Italians.

Despite the exits of "Ibra" but also Hakan Calhanoglu, replaced at half-time, Roma have confirmed their chronic difficulties against their direct competitors.

She gave too many gifts to the Rossoneri, especially during a calamitous first quarter of an hour, and wasted too much in front.

Like Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the most dangerous in the absence of Edin Dzeko (adductors), who could not convert his four goal balls (38th, 72nd, 78th, 90 + 3rd).

Here is Roma 5th and driven out of the "Champions zone".

- Thunderous Inter and Lukaku -

Romelu Lukaku, still decisive with a goal (after 33 seconds) and an assist, was again the great architect of the fifth consecutive victory in the Nerazzurri championship.

Inter, quickly put on the right track by the Belgian international, avoided the trap of Genoa, a team in form which remained on seven matches without defeat.

Matteo Darmian (69th) and Alexis Sanchez (77th) continued the good initial work of "Big Rom".

"Last year, we lost matches like these, this year we are making progress," said Lukaku, who, with 18 goals, comes one step behind Cristiano Ronaldo, also a scorer on Saturday.

Inter gave a "signal" to its competitors "even if the championship is still long," added the Belgian.

The Nerazzurri can now seriously dream of a 19th scudetto, more than ten years after the last (2010), serene as ever on the ground when its owner, the Chinese group Suning, is in the midst of financial turmoil.

- Naples and Cagliari come out of the silence -

Napoli and their coach Gennaro Gattuso, under pressure after elimination in the Europa League, gave themselves a little air in the Campania derby against Benevento (2-0), thanks in particular to the winning return of their Belgian striker Dries Mertens .

For his first tenure in more than two months, and his ankle injury on December 16 against Inter Milan, the top scorer in the history of Napoli put his people in the right direction by opening the scoring with opportunism (34th ).

Matteo Politano (66th) doubled the bet.

The relegation Cagliari (18th) also got his head out of the water: the Sardinians, with their new coach Leonardo Semplici, put an end on the lawn of the red lantern Crotone (2-0) to a negative spiral of sixteen matches consecutive without a win.

© 2021 AFP