(IN THE PHOTO: Menez and Bonaventura celebrate together)
MILAN – Milan picked up a second successive home win on Sunday night after beating Napoli 2-0 at the San Siro. Jeremy Menez got Milan off to a dream start by scoring a sensational solo effort on 6 minutes, skipping past 2 defenders before unleashing a precise angled shot past Napoli’s goalkeeper Rafael. A goal to the good, the rossoneri went in search of a second goal which eventually came shortly after the restart thanks to Jack Bonaventura’s header on 52 minutes. Diego Lopez also deserves special credit after some fantastic saves and the Spanish shot-stopper played his part in an important win that reignites Milan’s chase for third place. Filippo Inzaghi’s men are now just 2 points off the final Champions League place.Here are some of the stats to emerge from the match: 3- the number of goals scored by Jack Bonaventura with the Milan jersey. His header against Napoli however was his first for Milan at the San Siro. The Milan number 28 takes his goal tally in Serie A to 17. Interestingly, the attacking midfielder’s first ever goal in the Italian top flight was against Napoli at the San Paolo for Atalanta on the 11th of April 2012.8- the number of goals scored by Jeremy Menez this season which is a personal best. 4 have been scored from open play and 4 from the penalty spot.7- the number of saves by Diego Lopez against Napoli on Sunday night. For the Milan shot-stopper this is a personal record for the season.24- the number of points Milan have with 4 matches to go until the end of the first part of the season. The rossoneri have already outdone the points total achieved for the first part of Serie A last season which was 22. 28 February 2011- this was the last time that Milan managed to beat Napoli at the San Siro. On that occasion, Milan ran out 3-0 winners with Ibrahimovic, Boateng and Pato all on the score-sheet.