MILAN (Reuters) -Christian Pulisic's goal gave AC Milan a 1-0 win over city rivals Inter Milan at the San Siro on Sunday with Mike Maignan saving Hakan Calhanoglu's penalty to deny the hosts an equaliser.
Inter's three-match winning run had brought them to the top of the standings, but there is little room for error in this season's Scudetto battle, where AS Roma hold pole position after a 3-1 win at Cremonese and Milan are now on their shoulders.
Milan moved up to second spot on 25 points, two behind Roma, and level with defending champions Napoli while Inter, who could have returned to the summit with a win, slipped to fourth place on 24 points alongside Bologna.
Following a frantic opening half where Inter had most of the chances and Milan were saved by their keeper and the upright, Pulisic gave Milan the lead nine minutes after the break.
A Strahinja Pavlovic foul on Marcus Thuram gave Inter a lifeline 16 minutes from time, but Maignan came to the rescue again.
Milan continued their recent derby dominance, stretching their undefeated streak against their neighbours to six games, and did so with one quick counter-attack and a keeper on top form.
"We created a lot of scoring chances, we met an incredible goalkeeper tonight," Thuram said to Inter TV.
Inter were on the attack from the off, with Maignan making a one-handed stop at full-stretch from Thuram's early headed effort and Francesco Acerbi's thumping header came crashing back off the post.
MAGIC MAIGNAN
Maignan then pushed a Lautaro Martinez volley onto the post before Milan finally created some danger with Pulisic's shot from distance curling just wide of the target.
"In the first quarter of an hour we were a bit stuck, then the team played better," Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri told DAZN.
"We needed to refine things more and get Saelemaekers and Pulisic more involved."
After soaking up Inter's early pressure after the interval, Milan broke from their own half and the counter-attack led to the winning goal.
Youssouf Fofana played Alexis Saelemaekers through on goal and after his low shot was palmed away by keeper Yann Sommer, Pulisic pounced on the rebound to score from close range.
Milan had found their attacking groove. Inter defender Manuel Akanji made a decisive headed clearance with Rafael Leao ready to connect with a Saelemaekers cross and Sommer saved a Fofana shot.
The penalty came just when Inter appeared to be running out of ideas, but Maignan's mind-games did the trick. The Milan keeper stood more to the right than in the centre, tempting Calhanoglu to hit the ball to the other side.
Calhanoglu obliged by striking to Maignan's right and the keeper sprung to get a hand to the ball and then punched it clear for a corner.
Milan soaked up the inevitable late pressure and held on to earn local bragging rights and a statement win in a tight title race.
"This victory is important on a psychological level, because we could have gone five points behind," Allegri added.
"It was very important to stay within the top four."
(Reporting by Trevor StynesEditing by Toby Davis)
