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Milan beat Cagliari to keep Juventus in sight
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-17 08:56
ROME, Oct 16 (Reuters) - AC Milan kept up their pursuit of Serie A leaders
Juventus when they cruised to a 2-0 win at Cagliari on Sunday.
Milan's Alberto
Gilardino controls the ball during a Italian Serie A soccer match against
Cagliari at the Saint Elia Stadium in Cagliari, on the Italian island of
Sardinia, October 16, 2005. [Reuters] | The result
lifted Milan to second place on 16 points from seven matches, five points behind
Juventus, who maintained their 100 per cent winning start to the season by
beating Messina 1-0 on Saturday.
Milan's city rivals Inter also enjoyed an easy victory, crushing Livorno 5-0
at the San Siro stadium to climb to third on 15 points.
The game was less than 30 seconds old at Cagliari when Milan striker Alberto
Gilardino wriggled free of three defenders and poked the ball past keeper Fabian
Carini.
For a time it seemed that the home side might strike back but in the 27th
minute Andriy Shevchenko effectively ended the contest, unleashing a left-footed
shot that dipped underneath Carini's outstretched arms and into the bottom
corner.
The Ukrainian almost got a second when he fired against the post shortly
after the restart, but throughout the second half Milan seemed more concerned
with protecting their lead.
Even without first-choice strikers Adriano and Obafemi Martins, Inter had few
difficulties making it four wins out of four at the San Siro.
Livorno's top striker Cristiano Lucarelli was suspended, but their real
problems were all in defence as became clear after 11 minutes when Inter
defender Marco Materazzi took advantage of a failure to clear a corner to volley
his side ahead.
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