AC Milan beat Genoa at the San Siro to maintain their slender lead at the summit of the Serie A table over their city neighbours Inter.
Goals from Rafael Leao and Junior Messias proved enough for AC Milan to earn a 2-0 victory over relegation-threatened Genoa.
Without a goal in their previous two league games, Milan did not take long to get on the score sheet at home, with Pierre Kalulu picking out the perfect cross for Leao to volley home in the 11th minute.
Leao is one of several out-of-form strikers, but showed no lack of confidence when he fired his first goal since the end of February into the net.
Pioli’s side had only managed four strikes in their previous five games in all competitions.
The hosts should have had another later in the first half, but Belgian midfielder Alexis Saelemaekers missed his kick with the goal at his mercy.
The second half was a different story as they struggled to find a second goal to kill the game with Genoa asking questions of their own down the other end.
Milan, though, kept coming and finally found their second as Brazilian midfielder Messias hammered home three minutes from time to seal the win.
Substitute Ante Rebic turned provider for Messias, who converted from the rebound after his initial effort had been saved.
Veteran striker Olivier Giroud saw one acrobatic second-half effort flash wide, but otherwise that final pass again was eluding Milan until the dying moments.
Defensively it was another successful night for Milan.
Pioli is now only the third manager in the club’s history to keep a clean sheet in at least six games in a row in a single Serie A season.
After securing their first win in three league matches, Milan move onto 71 points from 33 matches, two clear of Inter who have a game in hand as Milan continue to look for their first Scudetto 2011.
Genoa remain 19th on 22 points, three points from the safety zone.
