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Rare Calhanoglu goal keeps Milan in Champions League hunt

May 11, 2019
Hakan Calhanoglu goal gave AC Milan a 1-0 win at mid-table Fiorentina in Serie A on Saturday
Hakan Calhanoglu goal gave AC Milan a 1-0 win at mid-table Fiorentina in Serie A on Saturday

MILAN — A rare Hakan Calhanoglu goal gave AC Milan a 1-0 win at mid-table Fiorentina in Serie A on Saturday to keep them in the hunt for a Champions League place.

The Turkish midfielder met Suso's cross with a glancing header to break the deadlock in the 36th minute and leave Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Montella waiting for his first win since taking charge one month ago.

Milan, needing a top-four finish to qualify for the Champions League, are fifth with 62 points, one behind Inter Milan who do not play until Monday when they host relegated Chievo.

Third-placed Atalanta have 65 points after beating Genoa 2-1 earlier on Saturday.

Atalanta took another big step towards their first Champions League participation when a win over Genoa lifted them to third in Serie A and extended their unbeaten run to eleven league matches.

Halftime substitute Musa Barrow and Timothy Castagne scored early in the second half to lift Atalanta to third, despite having two first-half goals disallowed for offside following VAR reviews.

"Today, we couldn't afford to slip up and we did really well," said Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini. "We want to fulfill a dream for the fans whose enthusiasm has been incredible.

"They left huge spaces for us to finish the game off but instead we decided to sit back, and we ran a huge risk, but it all ended well."

Playing at Sassuolo's Maipei stadium because rebuilding work on their own stadium is under way, Atalanta thought they had gone ahead after nine minutes with a Robin Gosens goal, but it was disallowed for offside against Duvan Zapata.

Zapata had the ball in the net himself shortly afterwards but was again offside. Despite missing playmaker Alejandro Gomez, Atalanta broke the deadlock one minute after the restart as Marten de Roon released Barrow with a pass through the centre of the Genoa defence and the Gambian fired past Ionut Radu.

Castagne turned in the second seven minutes later although Atlanta had to survive a nervous finale after Goran Pandev pulled one back in the 89th minute for Genoa, who are 16th and four points clear of the relegation zone. — Reuters


May 11, 2019
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