Ronaldinho inspires Milan to Udinese win

Ronaldinho was at his inspirational best as AC Milan ended a four-game winless streak with a 3-2 success against Udinese at the San Siro to move up to second in Serie A.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored a brace and Pato marked his injury comeback as a substitute with a goal as Milan closed the gap on leaders Inter Milan to eight points.

And the win was a much needed boost ahead of the resumption of Champions League duties next week but if there was any concerns that Milan would have one eye on Manchester United, they were quickly dispelled.

The Sky TV cameras repeatedly cut to United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in the stands alongside his assistant Mike Phelan but Milan’s players were firmly concentrated on the task at hand.

They took the lead after just seven minutes after dominating the early action as Ronaldinho teased two defenders on the right and crossed to the near post where Huntelaar, starting as Marco Borriello was injured, lost his marker to head home from three yards.

Udinese did not come just to defend and Serie A top scorer Antonio Di Natale was inches away from converting a cross-come-shot from Mauricio Isla at the back post.

Milan were forced into an early change as Brazilian winger Mancini went off with a thigh problem to be replaced by countryman Pato.

And he was straight into the action, running onto a clever Ronaldinho pass and rounding goalkeeper Samir Handanovic before slotting home, only to see he had been flagged for a marginal offside.

Yet the same combination resulted in the second goal on 39 minutes as Ronaldinho played a stunning first time pass over his shoulder with Pato’s pace allowing him to surge clear of the backline.

Giovanni Pasquale did well to stay with the speedster and slid in to block his initial shot but succeeded only in helping the ball past Handanovic and allowing Pato to run on and slot home into the empty net.

It seemed comfortable enough for Milan and coach Leonardo replaced centre-back Thaigo Silva, who had a slight problem, with Daniele Bonera but that caused confusion in the Rossoneri’s backline and Udinese scored with the last kick of the first half.

Di Natale twisted and turned on the right and crossed for Antonio Floro Flores to expose Milan’s defensive disarray and head home, with midfielder Gennaro Gattuso the only man tracking him.

But 12 minutes after the restart it was another Ronaldinho delivery that did the damage as his free-kick was deflected into Huntelaar’s path and the Holland striker spun on a sixpence before rifling home high into the net from eight yards.

Ronaldinho almost capped his performance with a goal but a quarter of an hour from the end his header was cleared off the line before he made way for David Beckham to make a late cameo ahead of his eagerly-anticipated return to Old Trafford.

But Milan had a nervous last few moments after Di Natale scored his 17th Serie A goal of the season on the counter-attack four minutes from time.