Last week AC Milan destroyed Inter in the Milan derby to regain their confidence. This week, they looked to build on their momentum with an away match to Fiorentina. The Rossoneri hadn't lost at Fiorentina in six years, and last year took the same fixture by winning 2-1. Milan was also bolstered by the return of Ibrahimovic to their lineup after a three match ban.
All in the all the match was very entertaining and both clubs produced a wide open game and a couple of chances in the first 5-7 minutes. During this time, Seedorf smashed a shot on target, forcing the Fiorentina keeper to save, and it was a preview of things to come.
In the 8th minute, Seedorf struck again. He engaged in some brilliant 1-2 passing with Ibra, which resulted in Seedorf hammering a shot into the top corner of the net to give Milan a 1 goal lead. The Rossoneri weren't done though.
Fiorentina put their best stretch of the match together from about the 18th to the 24th minute, and saw about 5 minutes straight possession in the Milan defensive third. In the 24th, they had a free kick in a promising position not too far outside of the 18, but they tried a training ground type play that backfired badly and wasted the chance.
The rest of the first half was all Milan, as they put on a clinic up front, tearing the Fiorentina defense to shreds. They got several nice balls in and a few shots on goal. Finally in the 41st, they got a string of good passes from Ibra to Boateng to Pato, which resulted in Pato tapping in Milan's second goal and sending them to the half up by two.
Fiorentina tried something different in the second half, bringing in Babacar off the bench. He did succeed in sparking them a bit, but he squandered a chance in the 47th minute when he refused a pass on a counter and selfishly smacked his shot off target.
In the following minutes, Ibrahimovic had a few chances to finish off the match, but was consistently off target. Despite Milan controlling the match for the first hour plus, the Viola were starting to wake up.
In minute 73, Seedorf and Comotto went down in the Milan penalty area. Fiorentina screamed for a penalty, but the ref wouldn't have it. On replay, it looked like Comotto actually was the one who hauled Seedorf down by the arm, but still, the Viola felt hard done by. They did strike finally in the 79th minute as Vargas scored off of a rebound given up by Abiatti.
The final ten minutes weren't really as exciting as you might think. However, in the 87th minute, Ibrahimovic said something that was apparently way out of line to the 4th official, and was shown a straight red card. Despite winning the match 2-1, Milan will have to wait and see how many matches Ibra will miss now, and whether that haunts their run for the Scudetto.
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