Carlos Tevez scored his fourth goal in a week to hand champions Juventus a precious 1-0 win over Milan, and new coach Massimiliano Allegri the bragging rights, at a packed-out San Siro.
Milan had taken full points from their opening two matches under new coach Filippo Inzaghi following two horrendous campaigns under Allegri and, latterly, Clarence Seedorf.
But after a promising first half performance, the Rossoneri allowed themselves to be pegged back for the second before being punished by an alert Tevez 19 minutes from the end.
It was the Argentinian’s fourth goal in seven days having scored once in a 2-0 win over Udinese last week and twice in the 2-0 Champions League win over Malmo in Turin.
Tevez said: “It was a great game… they rarely put us in trouble.”
Juve’s third successive win left them three points clear of Milan and Roma ahead of the latter’s game at home against Cagliari on Sunday.
On Allegri’s return to the club he was dismissed from in January, the 47-year-old admitted it had been a “particular evening”.
“I’m not a machine. I spent three and a half years at Milan …. but the important thing was for us to go out and win tonight and that’s what we did.
“It wasn’t an easy game but the lads were patient, didn’t concede much and created a lot of chances.”
Inzaghi said: “Before tonight I honestly thought we are really far behind Juve, but after this game I realise we’re not so far.
“There are things we have to improve on and although we’re not going to achieve that immediately I believe we’ll be on the right road once we recover the players who are still sidelined. Juve have that extra ingredient, but I still believe we had a great game.”
