Ibra brace bags Milan victory

AC Milan defeated Roma 3-2 to provisionally move to the summit of the Serie A table as Juventus have the opportunity to regain top spot when they take on Inter Milan in the day's later fixture. Zlatan Ibrahimovic put the visitors ahead in the 17th minute before Nicolas Burdisso equalised shortly after. Alessandro Nesta restored AC Milan's lead at the half-hour mark. Ibrahimovic gave Milan a two-goal cushion with his second goal of the game in the 78th minute, but Roma substitute Bojan reduced the arrears three minutes from time. However, Milan held on for their fourth straight league victory. The result saw Milan go one point clear of Juventus, who are set to take on Inter in a later kick-off, while it was Roma's third loss in four games. The visitors went ahead in what was their first chance of the contest. Ibrahimovic got behind Alberto Aquilani's cross from the right and his powerful header beat Roma goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg. Roma struggled to break Milan's defence until the 28th minute when Burdisso scored his first goal of the season. He ran into the six-yard box to meet Miralem Pjanic's cross with his head and beat AC Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati. Roma's joy was short-lived, however, as Milan went back in front two minutes later. Robinho's cross following a corner was met by Nesta, who nodded past Stekelenburg. Bojan missed a chance to restore parity in first-half stoppage time when he fired wide from a good angle. Roma continued to push forward after the break and Nesta made a brilliant tackle to deny Bojan, who was one-on-one with Abbiati to beat. Before the hour mark, Pjanic's well-struck free-kick was palmed over the bar spectacularly by Abbiati before the keeper produced another great save to deny Osvaldo. Roma were unable to get back on level terms during that spell, however, and Milan were soon back on the attack and celebrating their third goal as Ibrahimovic showed excellent precision to head Aquilani's cross into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal. The game was not over, though, as Bojan reduced the deficit three minutes from time. Bojan struck the ball into the back of the net after Abbiati was unable to hold on to substitute Erik Lamela's bullet strike. Roma pushed men forward in search of a late equaliser, but the Milan defence held firm to preserve the three points.