Ibrahimovic brace ends decade-long wait for AC Milan win at Napoli

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice earlier than selecting up an damage as Serie A leaders AC Milan beat 10-man Napoli 3-1 on Sunday to file their first league win in Naples for greater than 10 years. The 39-year-old powered a bullet header into the underside nook within the first half earlier than bundling in his second of the evening after the break to take his league-high tally to 10 objectives in six video games this season.

Dries Mertens pulled one again for the house facet to offer them hope, however a careless problem by Tiemoue Bakayoko earned the Napoli midfielder a second yellow card with 25 minutes left on the clock and Jens Petter Hauge ultimately notched Milan’s third in stoppage time.

Ibrahimovic was pressured off with a muscle downside with 11 minutes remaining, and the Swede was pictured sitting on the bench with an ice pack strapped to the again of his left leg.

Milan assistant coach Daniele Bonera, who stepped in for head coach Stefano Pioli after he examined positive for COVID-19, was unable to shed any mild concerning the severity of the damage.

“I don’t have much information, he had ice on his thigh and we’ll see in the next few days what the tests say. He isn’t someone who usually comes off the pitch,” Bonera informed Sky Sport.

The outcome means unbeaten Milan retain high spot on 20 factors, two away from Sassuolo in second and 6 forward of sixth-placed Napoli.

It additionally ended an 11-match winless league run for the Rossoneri on this fixture and marked solely their second Serie A victory away to Napoli within the 21st century, the opposite a 2-1 win in October 2010 wherein Ibrahimovic additionally scored throughout his first spell on the membership.

Milan’s unbeaten run of league kind is now 20 video games lengthy and stretches again to March, however Bonera refused to be drawn on the opportunity of clinching the membership’s first Serie A title since 2011 this season.

“We want to stay high up the table but after eight rounds it’s too soon to get carried away,” he stated.

“There are teams that have invested more than us and that were built to win the league. We weren’t built to win straight away, but we’re growing game after game.”

(Reporting by Alasdair Mackenzie; Editing by Toby Davis)