MILAN: Last week it was an acrobatic overhead winner that belied his 39 years.

This week it was a towering header in stoppage time that secured AC Milan a 2-2 draw with Hellas Verona on Sunday and a two-point lead atop Serie A entering the international break.

Game after game, Zlatan Ibrahimovic keeps showing that his markers are defenceless against him inside the penalty area.

So much so that Ibrahimovic was asked if he thought that Italian defenders had dropped in level in the eight years between his first and second stints with Milan.

“Or maybe Ibra is stronger,” was his reply, with a laugh.

The Swedish great scored braces against Bologna, bitter rivals Inter Milan in the derby, and Roma this season. His eight goals in five matches -- he missed two games after testing positive for the coronavirus -- top the Serie A scoring chart.

Having lost 3-0 at home to Lille in the Europa League on Thursday to end a 24-match unbeaten run in all competitions, Milan fell behind 2-0 to Verona before Franck Kessie, whose flicked shot was deflected in off a defender, and Ibrahimovic rallied the Rossoneri.

Antonin Barak and Mattia Zaccagni scored for Verona.

It wasn’t all easy for Ibrahimovic this time, though. He missed a penalty with a miserable effort high over the bar at his first chance to equalise, then ruined a potential equaliser from Davide Calabria with a handball before finally finding the target three minutes into added time by leaping over a defender.

Milan are two points ahead of Sassuolo, three ahead of Napoli and Roma and four ahead of Juventus and Atalanta.

Lazio scored another stoppage-time goal to rescue a 1-1 draw at home to champions Juventus.

Juventus appeared to be heading for a win and into second spot after Cristiano Ronaldo’s first-half goal but substitute Felipe Caicedo pounced deep in stoppage time.

Caicedo had netted a stoppage-time winner in Lazio’s last league match against Torino and also scored late at Zenit St. Petersburg on Wednesday to salvage a 1-1 draw in the Champions League.

Juve took the lead in the 15th minute when Juan Cuadrado beat a couple of Lazio defenders on the right before sending in a low cross for an unmarked Ronaldo to tap in from point blank range.

But Caicedo, who came on early in the second half, once again had the final word. He picked up a Correa cross and swivelled to fire in the equaliser as Juve drew for the fourth time in seven league games.

Both Inter and Atalanta were looking to recover from midweek defeats in the Champions League against Real Madrid and Liverpool, respectively, and they also came away with a 1-1 draw.

Inter broke the deadlock in the 58th when Ashley Young crossed in from the left and, with his back to goal, Lautaro Martinez flicked a header into the far corner.

Substitute Aleksej Miranchuk levelled 11 minutes from time, drilling into the bottom right corner from the edge of the area.

“We’re lacking a bit of the killer instinct to take home games,” said coach Antonio Conte, whose side are seventh just behind Atalanta.

Napoli moved up to third with a 1-0 win at Bologna, where Victor Osimhen scored with a header.

Roma are equal on points with Napoli after a Henrikh Mkhitaryan hat-trick delivered a 3-1 win at Genoa.

Genoa slipped into the relegation zone after Torino drew 0-0 with bottom-place Crotone to move above Genoa on goal difference.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2020