AC Milan forward Rafael Leao created history on Sunday evening when he scored the fastest goal ever in Serie A. Leao found the back of the net after six seconds from kick off, to set the Serie A leaders on their way to a 2-1 win at Sassuolo on Sunday.
In an astonishing start, Hakan Calhanoglu collected the ball straight from the kickoff and opened up the Sassuolo defence with an incisive pass to Leao and the Portuguese beat goalkeeper Andrea Consigli with an angled drive.
“We have four or five possible situations for the kick-off which we alternate,” coach Stefano Piolo said. “We wanted to approach the game the right way from the start. We did very well to score after just six seconds and (Brahim) Diaz, (Hakan) Calhanoglu and Leao made the right movements.”
After Calhanoglu had a goal disallowed for offside in the build-up in the ninth minute, Alexis Saelemaekers added a second following a powerful Theo Hernandez run in the 26th minute. Domenico Berardi pulled one back for Sassuolo late in the game.
Milan, again missing injured forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, remained unbeaten after 13 games and lead the standings with 31 points, one ahead of their neighbours Inter Milan.
Pioli said that, after drawing their last two games, it was an important match to win, especially against a team who are sixth in the table.
“There are times when games are more important than others,” he said.
“We were not satisfied with the last two draws, we always play to win. This match carries a lot of weight from a mental point of view, we wanted to win and it gives us a lot of satisfaction.”
Pioli admitted that under-pressure Milan had improved at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when spectators were barred from Serie A games for the first time.
“At the beginning, the lack of crowd made us grow but if we had our fans now, we would fly,” he said. “We want to bring them some satisfaction at a time when life is not normal.”
(With agency inputs)
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