Genoa 0 Milan 2
Defending Serie A champions Milan moved to the top of the table tonight following a 2-0 win over Genoa.
A penalty from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 56th minute and a goal from Antonio Nocerino in the 79th minute earned the Rossoneri all three points in a one-sided game at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Milan could have won by a greater margin, but Nocerino and Robinho both missed great chances to make the win more comfortable while Genoa hit the target only once over the entire 90 minutes.
It was the Nocerino show in the first half an hour as the Milan midfielder went close to a hat-trick, but did not even manage one goal.
His first chance was thwarted by a fine lunging tackle by Marco Rossi early on, although Nocerino's poor first touch prevented him from having a clear run on goal.
Minutes later, Nocerino was again allowed to beat the offside trap and this time it was Sebastien Frey who denied him with a reflex save.
The game was halted temporarily as tear gas sprayed by police officers outside the ground started seeping into the stadium, pervading onto the field of play.
After a break of eight minutes, the game restarted with Nocerino carrying on from where he left off.
In the 28th minute, it was the former Palermo midfielder again who came close to breaking the deadlock, but his shot on the turn finished wide of the right-hand post.
Genoa's only effort on goal in the first half was a direct free-kick from Miguel Veloso which Marco Amelia tipped over the bar in the 33rd minute.
Milan's superiority was not reflected by the scoreline, but that changed 10 minutes into the second half when Kakha Kaladze felled Ibrahimovic inside the penalty area, earning a second yellow card as the referee pointed to the spot.
Ibrahimovic stepped up himself to send his spot-kick powerfully past Frey.
Milan looked to increase their lead and, on the hour mark, Robinho added another incredible miss to his growing collection as he lifted the ball over the bar from less than two yards out.
They almost lost their lead in the 73rd minute when Rossi backheeled Alexander Merkel's cross just wide of the post, but Nocerino then finally got his fifth goal of the season to settle the Rossoneri's nerves with a simple tap-in from Kevin-Prince Boateng's cross in the 79th minute.