Story highlights
Champions AC Milan go four points clear in Italy after beating Lecce 2-0
Antonio Nocerino and Zlatan Ibrahimovic score the goals that give Milan win
Second-placed Juventus lose ground after being held to a 0-0 draw at Genoa
Juventus are still unbeaten after 27 games, but 14 draws has slowed them down
AC Milan are now four points clear at the top of the Italian Serie A table, after goals from Antonio Nocerino and Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave them a 2-0 home win over Lecce on Sunday.
The defending champions recovered well from their 3-0 Champions League defeat at Arsenal, taking advantage of another slip-up by rivals Juventus to move closer to a second successive Scudetto.
Milan went ahead in the seventh minute when Nocerino’s volley found the back of the net after deflecting in off Leonardo Miglionico.
And they doubled their lead midway through the second half when Ibrahimovic fired home a header from Urby Emanuelson.
Milan lie on 57 points, four ahead of Juventus who drew 0-0 at Genoa, their fourth draw in a row and sixth in seven matches.
Juventus hit the woodwork three times in a frantic second half period but, despite remaining unbeaten after 27 games, a 14th draw sees them lose further ground at the top of the table.
Third-placed Lazio lost more ground on the top two, slumping 3-1 at home to Bologna to now lie nine points behind the leaders.
A disastrous day for Lazio was compounded by the fact they finished the match with nine men following the dismissals of Francesco Matuzalem and Alvaro Gonzalez.
Napoli and Udinese are level in fourth place, a further two points behind, after Udinese lost 1-0 at Novara, who moved off the bottom of the table.
Elsewhere in Italy, Cagliari sacked coach Davide Ballardini, the 15th coach to lose his job in Serie A season.
Ballardini, who was fired following the 6-3 thrashing at Napoli on Friday, is the third coach sacked by Cagliari president Massimo Cellino this season.
Meanwhile, in Germany’s Bundesliga, Schalke remain fourth, nine points behind league leaders Borussia Dortmund, after beating Hamburg 3-1.
Teemu Pokki opened the scoring with a header, and Schalke extended their advantage with goals from Christoph Metzelder and a Klaas-Jan Huntelaar penalty.
In Sunday’s other match, Werder Bremen consolidated sixth place with a comfortable 3-0 home win over Hanover courtesy of goals from Claudio Pizarro, Sebastian Proedl and Markus Rosenberg.
