Novara 0-3 Milan: Ibrahimovic and Robinho make the difference as Rossoneri return gap to Juventus back to one point

Three second half strikes, two from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and one from Robinho, gave Milan all three points with a 3-0 win over Novara at the Stadio Silvio Piola on Sunday.

A host of missed chances in the first period looked to have cost Milan the victory, but three easy efforts from the Rossoneri's strike partnership secured the win that takes the club a point behind Serie A-leader Juventus.

With Massimiliano Allegri making five changes to the side that lost last weekend in the Derby della Madonnina, it was perhaps no surprise that the team with the best attack in Serie A started the game brightly.

And it was one of those players hoping to prove a point who had the best of the early chances. Robinho, following up from an Ibrahimovic free kick, fired wide from a tight angle, when it was perhaps easier to score.

The Rossoneri were really clicking into gear now, and were peppering the Novara goal with shots on an almost constant basis. First, it was Mark Van Bommel who threatened with a long-range effort. Then Ibrahimovic forced a good save from Samir Ujkani following another free kick.

And finally, Thiago Silva thought he'd scored with just 20 minutes gone when his header left the goalkeeper stranded, only for Andrea Caracciolo to clear the ball off the line.

It looked inevitable then that Milan would eventually take the lead, and it seemed for all the world as if it had on 32 minutes. Antonio Nocernio turned nonchalantly passed Michel Morganella in the box, and stroked the ball towards the far, right-hand post, only for it to miss the target by a matter of inches, and leave the visitors frustrated as they went into the break, somehow, level with their hosts.

The second half started much the same way that the first had ended, except, after five minutes, Novara looked to counter Milan's constant attacking threat.

And they did just that through a fantastically surging from Marco Rigoni. The 32-year-old looked 10 years younger as he left Van Bommel and Nocernio eating dust on the halfway line, before sliding an exquisite ball through to Caracciolo on the left-hand side of the area. The former Brescia man then cut inside and slotted his shot towards the far corner, only to see it squirm agonisingly wide.

That looked to have been a wake up call for Allegri's side, and it soon took the lead through an easy finish from Ibrahimovic. A wonderfully weighted through ball from Ambrosini found the Swedish striker inside the area, and with two touches, he smashed the ball from close-range past Ujkani, to finally give the Rossoneri a one-goal lead.

Tesser's side, looking for an equalizer, was now leaving an awful lot of room for Milan to exploit. And it was room that the club did exploit with 15 minutes remaining. A cross from Nocernio on the right-hand byline found El Shaarawy, who took a touch and shot across goal, only for Robinho to slide in and give Milan a comfortable 2-0 cushion. 

And it was soon 3-0 with less than a minute to go. El Shaarawy's cross was palmed away by Ujkani, only for Ibrahimovic to flick the ball past the goalkeeper on the rebound, and take him back to the top of the Serie A goalscoring charts.

That was how it ended, with Milan now only a point behind Juventus going into next weekend's game against Cagliari. While Novara stays routed to the bottom of the table having to travel to Palermo in the next round of fixtures.

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