Milan: Brahim Diaz shot AC Milan to a 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday which gave the seven-time Eu kings keep an eye on in their Champions League last-16 tie.
Diaz bundled in the one function of the sport within the 7th minute at a packed San Siro to provide Milan the merit earlier than subsequent month’s 2nd leg in London.
The Spaniard’s strike used to be the primary and one among only a few actual possibilities of a scrappy sport which highlighted the a ways from glowing type of each groups heading into fit.
“I’s in point of fact glad for the crew, as a result of we did nice paintings all week,” Diaz informed Mediaset.
“We’ve been thru some tricky eventualities however now we wish to glance ahead… now we wish to consider Serie A after which we will consider the sport in London.”
Milan got here into their first knockout within the pageant since 2014 with their season within the steadiness after a terrible run of effects up to now month which left their Serie A name defence in tatters.
However the Italians have a good probability of attaining the quarter-finals for the primary time since 2012 after proscribing injury-hit Spurs to little or no on Antonio Conte’s go back to Milan.
Conte, within the Spurs dugout two weeks after present process gallbladder surgical procedure, passed the midfield reins to children Oliver Skipp and Pape Matar Sarr after shedding Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma to damage final week.
And his crew failed to offer their document scorer Harry Kane with any provider, Milan having nice probabilities in fast succession overdue in the second one part to increase their mixture lead which have been fluffed through Charles De Ketelaere and Malick Thiaw.
– Milan triumph –
“We will have scored two extra objectives, however the sport used to be hard-fought, they brought about us issues,” Milan trainer Stefano Pioli stated to Mediaset.
“It’s most effective the primary leg, the second one shall be even tougher.”
Pioli stated on Monday that Italian groups can’t compete with the monetary would possibly of the Premier League golf equipment.
However Diaz had an already loud San Siro roaring with pleasure when he pounced on Theo Hernandez’s stored shot, first forcing a excellent forestall from Fraser Forster earlier than bundling house the opener.
The nearest Spurs got here in a stodgy first part used to be when Kane clipped the bar at the rebound from Son Heung-min’s stored shot, but it surely used to be futile because the Korean used to be offside within the build-up.
There used to be little or no goalmouth motion from that time on till De Ketelaere got here on within the 77th minute, the Belgian attacker just about doubling the hosts’ lead nearly directly after approaching.
De Ketelaere met Oliver Giroud’s excellent knockdown with a header which he couldn’t direct on the right track from shut vary.
And seconds later Thiaw had his head in his palms after lacking an excellent higher probability to safe the win, one way or the other heading Rafael Leao’s inch-perfect move huge with the function at his mercy.
On the other hand Spurs couldn’t spoil thru a backline smartly marshalled through Simon Kjaer which helped inflict a 2nd profession defeat to Milan for trainer Conte.