Serie A preview: Milan seek return to winners´ list

AC Milan face Chievo in Serie A on Sunday seeking a return to normality after their chastening defeat to Tottenham in the Champions League.

League leaders Milan have rarely been fazed throughout the domestic season in Italy.

Even after the occasional defeat, coach Massimiliano Allegri has insisted that the team’s title challenge remains in their hands.

But they were undeniably rattled by the visit of Spurs to the San Siro on Tuesday.

The English Premier League side proved the better team over 90 minutes of their Champions League first-leg knockout tie, troubling a static Milan with their pace and industry.

Spurs came away 1-0 winners thanks to a late Peter Crouch goal, before Milan veteran Gennaro Gattuso lost control and head-butted Tottenham coach Joe Jordan.

Ugly scenes of confrontation between Gattuso and the Spurs players marred a memorable tie, one in which Milan’s Mathieu Flamini should have been shown a red card for a crude tackle on Vedran Corluka.

With the team sure to be dwelling on the return fixture at White Hart Lane in March, Allegri’s challenge now is to return the players’ focus to the domestic campaign and the trip to Chievo’s Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi.

They will be looking to protect or perhaps extend their slender three-point lead over second-placed Napoli, who are at home to struggling Catania.

Defending champions Inter are just five points back after their 2-1 win over Fiorentina on Wednesday.

They host Cagliari at the San Siro on Saturday, when Palmero travel to Bologna.

In Sunday’s other matches, Juventus will look to build on their hard-fought 1-0 win over Inter last week when they travel to fourth-bottom Lecce.

Fiorentina and Sampdoria – who lost their derby against Genoa on Wednesday – will be hoping to get over their respective midweek defeats when they clash at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

Fourth-placed Lazio are at home to bottom club Bari and relegation-threatened Brescia travel to Udinese.

Claudio Ranieri will be hoping his Roma side can bounce back from their 3-2 Champions League defeat at home to Shakhtar Donetsk with a win over Genoa at the Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris.