Struggling Torino grabbed a 2-1 home win against AC Milan on Sunday, condemning the defending champion to its second Serie A loss this season.
Milan is third in the standings on 26 points from 12 games, one point below second-placed Atalanta and six adrift of leader Napoli, which both won their games this weekend and face each other in the next round.
Forward Rafael Leao should have put Milan ahead inside the opening 10 minutes when he received two great passes in or just outside the opponents’ box, but missed the target badly on both occasions.
While Stefano Pioli’s men dominated possession and looked to settle into the game as the half wore on, Torino took a surprise lead in the 35th minute through defender Koffi Djidji.
The 29-year-old nodded home a free kick by Valentino Lazaro awarded after Pierre Kalulu’s foul on Torino midfielder Nikola Vlasic.
Aleksey Miranchuk doubled Torino’s advantage two minutes later when goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic sent a long ball up the field which landed just in front of Milan’s area, and the midfielder fired a low shot inside the right post.
Defender Sergino Dest had a chance to score for Milan shortly after the break when he found space just outside Torino’s box and struck powerfully, seeing the ball go just over the crossbar.
Milan hit back through midfielder Junior Messias who unleashed its first shot on target in the 67th minute, after an error by Milinkovic-Savic who left the goal uncovered and allowed the Brazilian to shoot into the empty net.
Milan lacked clear chances to draw level, allowing Torino to end its unbeaten run of 17 Serie A away matches, the longest across Europe’s top five leagues.
Torino secured two successive league wins for the first time since January.
Milan, which need to avoid a defeat against RB Salzburg on Wednesday to progress to the Champions League knockout stage, hosts Spezia on Saturday.
Torino, which moved up to ninth on 17 points, travels to Bologna next Sunday.
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