Ibrahimovic misses penalty, Milan beats Bologna 2-1

Sat, Jan 30, 2021
By DANIELLA MATAR (Associated Press)

MILAN (AP) - Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed a penalty but AC Milan won 2-1 at Bologna on Saturday to bounce back from a disappointing week and remain top of Serie A.

Ante Rebic fired home the rebound after Ibrahimovic's penalty kick was saved and Franck Kessie doubled Milan's lead early in the second half. Former Milan midfielder Andrea Poli reduced the deficit nine minutes from time.

Milan moved five points clear of second-place Inter Milan, which hosts Benevento later. Juventus is also playing later, at Sampdoria.

Bologna remained six points off the relegation zone.

Milan had lost its last two matches, including a midweek defeat to Inter in the Italian Cup quarterfinals which saw Ibrahimovic sent off.

Milan almost took an early lead in Bologna but Lukasz Skorupski did well to tip Theo Hernandez's effort onto the crossbar.

The Bologna goalkeeper then pulled off a sensational double save against Ibrahimovic and managed to parry the Milan forward's spot kick but Rebic netted the follow-up to give his side the lead in the 26th minute.

Bologna defender Mitchell Dijks had conceded the penalty by blatantly hauling over Rafael Leao.

Bologna came close to the equalizer but then gave away another careless penalty when defender Adama Soumaoro touched the ball with both his hands

This time Kessie stepped up and hit it straight down the middle.

Poli set up a nervy finale when he fired Andreas Skov Olsen's cross into the top right corner, two minutes after coming off the bench. Bologna almost leveled shortly after but Gianluigi Donnarumma kept out Roberto Soriano with a brilliant flying save.

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