Keisuke Honda Buries Two, AC Milan Wins 3-1
Serie A’s first weekend since the international break continued on Sunday morning at the Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi where Verona took on AC Milan.
Both teams came into the contest tied and looked to gain ground in a league where Juventus and AS Roma are already playing like they will run away with it.
The first goal was a horrible own goal on the part of Verona. After Milan crossed the ball in, Rafael Marques tried to clear the ball out but nearly whiffed and he would’ve been better off. The ball hit off the side of his foot and right into the right side of the goal. There was nothing the keeper could do.
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Almost exactly six minutes later Stephan El Shaarawy hit a long pass to Keisuke Honda from left-to-right into the box and Honda buried the goal. Honda received the pass basically unmarked and hit it with his left foot and the ball went right-to-left into the goal. At the time, it was Honda’s fifth goal of the season and he has had a great one so far.
In the 56th minute, Adil Rami hit a through ball that spanned about a third of the pitch before it reached Honda on-the-run and Honda played a tiny chip on his left foot and slipped it past the keeper to give Milan the 3-0 lead. Honda’s sixth of the season puts him in a tie with Juventus’ Carlos Tevez atop the league.
Verona would get one back and they also received a double-yellow in the 94th minute, but the damage was done.
With the win, Milan moves to 4-2-1 with their only loss coming to Juventus. They have only won two of their last five, but have won the last two and are looking to move past their 0-2-1 stretch. The only games to not hit final are Inter vs. Napoli and Genoa vs. Empoli. The standings are fairly set going into Round Eight next weekend.
Milan is in sole possession of fourth place with 14 points and are only one point behind third place Sampdoria. They drew to Cagliari on Sunday morning and also received a red card. Juventus drew to Sassuolo on Saturday but remain in first with 19 points. Roma gained a couple of points on them with their 3-0 win over Chievo. They are currently in second with 18 points. Verona stalled at 11 points with the loss and drop to 3-2-2 on the season. They are in seventh and took a huge blow to getting to the top of the table.
Milan will be back in action in seven days to take on Fiorentina at the San Siro. Fiorentina is currently in ninth and coming off of a loss.
Stay tuned to Playing for 90 for more Serie A action.