Serie A: AC Milan stun Juventus to crash their top-four hopes

AC Milan dealt Juventus a crushing blow in Serie A’s top four race with a 3-0 win in Turin, with goals from Brahim Diaz, Ante Rebic and Fikayo Tomori sending the visitors up to third.

Defeat leaves Andrea Pirlo’s disjointed Juventus facing the prospect of missing out on Champions League qualification in a season that has fallen far below the Bianconeri’s exceptionally high standards.

With Inter Milan confirmed as runaway winners, the big focus for the remainder of the Serie A season is on the race for Champions League qualification, where four into three just won’t go.

Juventus, Milan, Atalanta and Napoli all began the weekend separated by just two points, and big wins for the latter pair heaped even more pressure on this meeting between two of the biggest clubs in Italian football.

The implications of defeat perhaps explained the standard of a disjointed and cagey game that lacked quality for long periods. And it took until 44 minutes for either side to produce something special in the final third. But Brahim Diaz’s finish certainly was that, curled brilliantly into the roof of the net after goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny could only palm a cross to him on the edge of the box.

Szczesny went some way towards making amends in the second half, saving Franck Kessie’s penalty, but had no chance when Rebic’s long-range effort arrowed into the top corner on 78 minutes.

And on-loan Chelsea centre-back Tomori made sure of the win with a towering header that also gave Milan the edge on head-to-head record – the first deciding factor if teams finish level on points at the end of the season.

Next up for Juventus it’s a trip to Sassuolo on Wednesday before the new Italian champions Inter arrive in Turin next weekend. Bologna away is their fixture on the final weekend of the season, with the Coppa Italia final coming in the midweek before that against Atalanta.

Milan have two winnable games coming up against Torino and Cagliari. But the meeting with Atalanta (currently second in the league) on the final weekend could still prove decisive for both clubs.