Report: Juventus 3 - AC Milan 0
Sunday 25th February 2001
Juventus kept up the pressure on leaders Roma with a comprehensive win over a fading Milan, Igor Tudor, Filippo Inzaghi and Zinedine Zidane getting the goals as Carlo Ancelotti's side hit top form.
Milan, who scraped a 1-1 draw at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions' League midweek and are now mired in ninth place in Serie A, were starting to recover from their recent injury crisis.
Argentine Fernando Redondo, fellow midfielder Massimo Ambrosini and defender Alessandro Costacurta were out, but Paolo Maldini and Demetrio Albertini were fit again and played in a Milan side spearheaded by Andrei Shevchenko, whose two goals in a 3-3 draw with Bologna last Saturday took him back to the top of the Serie A scoring charts.
Ukrainian Kakadze was the man chosen by Alberto Zaccheroni to control Zinedine Zidane, but the first minutes of the match were lighted by some impressive runs by Alessandro Del Piero whose superb individual goal at Bari last weekend hinted that at a return to form after a difficult couple of seasons.
In the fourth minute, Juventus gave the ball away cheaply outside their own box and Shevchenko and Coco almost carved an opening but the Juve defence got back to clear.
Juventus took the lead four minutes later when the ball was whipped into the Milan area from the right-hand side by Del Piero and Igor Tudor rose and headed the ball down towards the bottom left-hand corner. Christian Abbiati was rooted to his line as the ball bounced up into the net.
Abbiati was then forced off his line to clear as Filippo Inzaghi ran for a loose ball behind the Milan defence.
Milan began to settle and come more into the game and on 21 minutes Shevchenko had a chance but headed Demetrio Albertini's cross over the bar after climbing above Gianluca Pessotto.
Milan's best chance came in the 29th minute, but Edwin Van der Sar in the Juve goal was able to save Leonardo's diving header.
On 35 minutes Inzaghi spurned a chance to double Juve's advantage. Ferrara was unable to clear Del Piero's free kick from the right and the ball fell to Inzaghi in front of goal but his effort passed narrowly wide of Abbiati's left-hand post.
At the other end, only a last-ditch block from Edgar Davids denied Shevchenko another sight at goal.
After the break, Milan were on the ropes and lucky to be still in the game as Juve poured forward. A Zidane shot was only just wide, Inzaghi was hustled off the ball in the area after breaking down the left and in the 60th minute an exquiste chip from Del Piero wasn't far away.
Zaccheroni tried to change things around for Milan, bringing Boban on for Giunti but a second Juventus goal was inevitable and arrived in the 66th minute. A cross was not cleared properly by the Rosseneri defence and when it was returned Inzaghi swept the ball into the bottom corner.
The lively striker nearly got a second in the 78th minute, poking the ball goalwards when challenged in the area but Abbiati managed to reach it.
Milan's wretched day was summed up when an unmarked Shevchenko put a Gattuso cross over the bar in the dying minutes.
Gianluca Zambrotta nearly got a third for the home side after a superb piece of a skill brought the Delle Alpi stadium to its' feet, but his volley was beaten away by Abbiati. However, in injury time Zidane rounded off a great performance by Carlo Ancelotti's side with a delicious lob after a surging run into the box.
Juventus: Van der Sar, Ferrara, Montero, Tudor, Birindelli (Zambrotta 80), Tacchinardi, Davids, Pessotto, Zidane (Brighi 90), F Inzaghi(Kovacevic 87), Del Piero
Milan: Abbiati, Roque Junior, Maldini, Sala, Helveg (Guly 68), Albertini, Kaladze (Gattuso 71), Giunti (Boban 62), Coco, Leonardo, Shevchenko
Booked: Davids, Taccinardi, Ferrara (Juventus); Giunti, Gattuso (Milan)
Referee: Braschi (Prato)
