Ibrahimovic double pulls Milan top, Juve held at Crotone
October 19, 2020 00:00:00
AC Milan Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrating during the Italian Serie A football match against Inter Milan at the San Siro stadium in Milan on Saturday — AFP
MILAN, Oct 18 (AFP): Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck twice in his first match back from coronavirus on Saturday as AC Milan beat city rivals Inter Milan 2-1 to take top spot in Serie A ahead of Atalanta who slumped 4-1 at Napoli.
But champions Juventus, playing without quarantined Cristiano Ronaldo, were held 1-1 at promoted Crotone whose first top-flight point this season moved the southerners off the bottom of the table.
The 39-year-old stamped his mark on the game early, having also scored back in February only for Inter to win 4-2.
He missed a 13th-minute penalty but turned in the rebound, with a perfect Rafael Leao cross setting up the Swede for the second three minutes later.
Romelu Lukaku pulled a goal back after half an hour but Antonio Conte's Inter were struggling with six players out to Covid-19.
Milan won their opening four matches for the first time since the 1995-1996 season when they won the title under Fabio Capello.