UDINE, Italy - AC Milan secured a convincing 4-0 victory at Udinese in Serie A on Friday, with Sergio Conceicao's side earning their first win in nearly a month.
Rafael Leao and Strahinja Pavlovic scored quick-fire goals shortly before the break and Theo Hernandez blasted in the third in the 74th minute before Tijjani Reijnders completed the rout from close range late on.
Milan lost goalkeeper Mike Maignan early into the second half after a terrible clash of heads with their defender Alex Jimenez. The French keeper was taken off the pitch on a stretcher.
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Milan, who last secured three points in mid-March following a 2-1 home win against Como, are ninth in the standings on 51 points after 32 games.
They are six points off fourth-placed Bologna, who travel to Atalanta, in third, on Sunday. Udinese are 11th with 40 points.
The Rossoneri have struggled for large parts of this season and winning the domestic cup remains their best chance of qualifying for Europe next campaign.
They face Inter Milan in the second leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final on April 23 after drawing the first game 1-1 .
The Italian Cup winners automatically go into the Europa League league phase.
Milan, who conceded early braces in their last two league games against Fiorentina and Napoli, could have taken a first-minute lead through Reijnders.
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The Dutch midfielder latched onto a long pass from the halfway line and struck low from inside the box 20 seconds into the tie, after two Udinese defenders clashed to lose control of the ball.
Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye, however, saved the attempt.
The hosts' defence continued to thwart Milan's efforts and the game looked destined for a goalless draw at halftime, when Leao put Milan in front after 42 minutes with a curled first-time shot from the edge of the area.
Youssouf Fofana recovered the ball on the right flank and squared the ball to Leao along the edge of the box for the Portuguese to strike first-time inside the left post.
Defender Pavlovic doubled the lead with a header from a Christian Pulisic corner seconds before the interval.
Udinese tried to recover from that shock after the break when Milan suffered a huge setback themselves, losing Maignan to a dangerous clash that saw the goalkeeper motionless for a brief moment.
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The play was stopped for several minutes and Marco Sportiello stepped in for the Frenchman.
He did not, however, have much work between the posts as Milan continued on the front foot and Hernandez made it 3-0 following a solo run before Reijnders bundled in their fourth to seal the win from a Leao pass.
Pulisic thought he added a fifth but his goal was ruled out for offside.
