Hellas Verona 1-3 Milan: Birthday boy Tonali moves Rossoneri closer to Scudetto

Inter
leapfrogged
Stefano
Pioli’s
side
at
the
summit
with
victory
over
Empoli
on
Friday
(May
6),
and
Milan’s
response
at
the
Bentegodi
started
poorly
when
Marco
Faraoni
headed
Verona
in
front.

However,
Tonali
struck
either
side
of
half-time
–
with
the
excellent
Rafael
Leao
assisting
both
–
to
turn
the
game
around.

Results
|

Fixtures

Alessandro
Florenzi’s
late
third
made
sure
as
the
Rossoneri
remain
on
course
for
their
first
Scudetto
since
2010-11,
back
two
points
ahead
of
Inter
with
two
games
to
play.

Lorenzo
Montipo
had
produced
a
fantastic
save
to
deny
a
Rade
Krunic
header
in
the
opening
stages,
before
Tonali
saw
a
low
finish
ruled
out
for
offside
following
a
VAR
check.

David
Calabria’s
volley
was
turned
away
by
Montipo,
while
Gianluca
Caprari
and
Giovanni
Simeone
each
arrowed
narrowly
wide
at
the
other
end
in
a
frantic
first
half.

Verona
broke
the
deadlock
when
Darko
Lazovic
chipped
in
for
the
unmarked
Faraoni
to
nod
home,
but
Tonali
equalised
10
minutes
later,
prodding
in
after
a
mazy
left-wing
run
by
Leao.

Leao
repeated
the
trick
after
the
interval,
driving
forward
on
the
counter-attack
before
drilling
across
the
face
of
goal
for
the
incoming
Tonali
to
tap
in
and
nudge
Milan
ahead.

Adrien
Tameze
fired
a
presentable
opportunity
wildly
over
as
Verona
searched
for
a
response,
but
Milan
instead
sealed
victory
when
substitute
Florenzi
–
on
the
pitch
just
119
seconds
–
powered
into
the
bottom-left
corner
with
four
minutes
to
go.

What
does
it
mean?
Milan
banish
‘Fatal
Verona’ demons

The
Bentegodi
became
synonymous
with
Milan’s
failed
Scudetto
bids,
with
home
wins
late
in
the
season
derailing
the
Rossoneri
in
both
1972-73
and
1989-90.

But
Pioli’s
side
battled
back
to
banish
those
demons
on
Sunday
with
a
third
straight
away
win
over
Verona
for
the
first
time
in
their
history.

That
extended
their
unbeaten
run
to
14
games
in
Serie
A
–
only
Liverpool
are
on
a
longer
undefeated
streak
in
Europe’s
top
five
leagues
–
and
Milan
are
almost
there
now.

Leao
provides
birthday
gifts

Leao
was
at
his
creative
best
for
birthday
boy
Tonali,
who
celebrated
turning
22
by
netting
a
brace
against
Verona,
as
the
winger
created
a
game-high
four
chances,
two
of
those
being
assists.

Meanwhile,
Tonali
became
the
third
Milan
player
to
score
in
Serie
A
on
their
birthday
this
century
after
Jose
Mari
(December
10,
2000)
and
Stephan
El
Shaarawy
(October
27,
2012).

Caprari
kept
quiet

Caprari
is
aiming
to
join
Luca
Toni
as
just
the
second
Italian
in
the
past
17
years
to
be
involved
in
20
goals
in
Serie
A
in
a
season
for
Verona,
having
scored
12
and
assisted
seven
so
far.

But
the
forward
failed
to
deliver
against
Milan,
missing
the
target
from
a
presentable
first-half
chance
and
faltering
when
a
great
opportunity
to
counter
arrived
in
the
closing
stages.

What’s
next?

Milan
will
look
to
continue
their
title
charge
when
they
host
Atalanta
on
Sunday
(May
15),
with
Verona
at
home
to
Torino
a
day
earlier.