Tomori on target as AC Milan bounce back from Chelsea defeat to cruise past Juventus

Serie A champions move level with leaders Napoli after 2-0 victory at San Siro

Fikayo Tomori celebrates with teammates after scoring AC Milan's first goal in their 2-0 Serie A win against Juventus at the San Siro on October 8, 2022. Getty

Fikayo Tomori celebrates scoring AC Milan's first goal against Juventus. Getty

Fikayo Tomori celebrates scoring AC Milan's first goal. Reuters

Brahim Diaz scores AC Milan's goal during the Serie A match against Juventus. EPA

Brahim Diaz celebrates with AC Milan teammates after scoring the second goal against Juventus. EPA

Brahim Diaz and Rafael Leao celebrate after Diaz scored AC Milan's second goal against Juventus. AFP

AC Milan forward Rafael Leao takes a shot on goal. AFP

Juventus forward Dusan Vlahovic and AC Milan midfielder Ismael Bennacer challenge for a header. Reuters

Juventus striker Moise Kean of Juventus is challenged by AC Milan defender Pierre Kalulu. Getty

Juventus midfielder Matias Soule challenges AC Milan forward Rafael Leao. Getty

AC Milan quickly responded from their Champions League humbling at Chelsea by easing to a 2-0 victory over Juventus on Saturday to move level on points with Serie A leaders Napoli.

The reigning league champions showed no ill-effects from their 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge and were much the better side against rivals Juve in front of a packed San Siro. Goals either side of half-time from Fikayo Tomori and Brahim Diaz secured a deserved victory.

"We were timid in London ... today we were more of a team and we worked really hard together. That's what we need to do in all our matches," Milan manager Stefano Pioli said.

Milan are one of three teams on 20 points alongside Napoli and Atalanta, who travel to Udinese on Sunday afternoon with the chance to claim the outright lead.

Milan sit third after a dominant display which should give them some cause for optimism ahead of Tuesday night, when they try to gain revenge on Chelsea in Champions League Group E.

For Juve it was yet another poor performance and result, a second league defeat of the campaign which leaves them in eighth, seven points off the pace.

"I think there's little to say after a match like that," said Juve coach Massimilano Allegri. "We played all right in the first half and then we capitulated. There were too many basic errors."

Theo Hernandez, who missed Milan's Stamford Bridge hammering, was key to Milan taking the lead. His challenge on Cuadrado led to a corner which the France full-back took, and Tomori lashed in his first goal of the season after Olivier Giroud's effort hit him in the chest.

It was as much as Milan deserved. Rafael Leao had already struck the post twice for the hosts, and although Juve did look menacing on the break, they lacked the delicate touch of suspended Angel Di Maria.

Dusan Vlahovic was particularly out of sorts and it was his poor pass which led to Diaz doubling the hosts' lead eight minutes after the break.

Diaz pounced on Vlahovic's lazy ball and charged up the field on a lightning run, skipping past Adrien Rabiot and Leonardo Bonucci before forcing a powerful finish past Wojciech Szczesny.

Diaz was scooped up onto Leao's shoulders while the more than 70,000 fans packed into football's La Scala celebrated with the fervour of a crowd who knew they had as good as claimed the points.

Dzeko fires Inter Milan past Sassuolo

Milan are also five points ahead of local rivals Inter Milan, who won 2-1 at Sassuolo thanks to Edin Dzeko's brace which continued his team's rebound in form after beating Barcelona in midweek.

The 36-year-old Bosnian striker struck on the stroke of half-time to give Inter the lead at the Mapei Stadium and secured the points with 15 minutes remaining after Davide Frattesi levelled on the hour.

Dzeko is now on 101 goals in Serie A, where he has played since moving to Roma from Manchester City in 2016.

"Scoring is a great feeling, when the ball crosses the line you're the happiest man in the world," Dzeko told DAZN. "You can lose matches like the one today and that has happened to us recently. We didn't play great but we wanted to confirm what we did against Barcelona."

Inter face Barca at the Camp Nou on Wednesday night, a match which will be crucial to their chances of qualifying, after beating the Catalan giants 1-0 earlier this week.

Dejan Stankovic takes charge of his first Sampdoria match later on Saturday when his winless team take on fellow strugglers Bologna trying to get off the bottom of the table.