Milan thrash Chievo to send out title warning

Rome: AC Milan sent out an ominous warning to their title rivals with a 4-0 thrashing of Chievo at the San Siro that moved them into second place in Serie A.

Milan trail unbeaten leaders Juventus, who won 1-0 at Lazio on Saturday, by a single point. The champions made short work of Chievo, leading 4-0 at half-time after goals from Brazilians Thiago Silva and Pato and a brace from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Milan gave an indication of their intent early on when Ibrahimovic fired a vicious shot that beat Stefano Sorrentino but landed on the roof of the net. Yet on eight minutes they went in front as Thiago Silva took a pass from Kevin-Prince Boateng and sent a precise shot from 25 yards into the bottom corner. Chievo almost replied immediately but Marco Amelia blocked Sergio Pellissier`s shot from close in. And on 16 minutes they were made to pay as Ibrahimovic took a pass from Alberto Aquilani and curled a delicious shot from 20 yards into the top corner for his 100th goal in Serie A. Chievo simply couldn`t live with their hosts, although their defending wasn`t helping them. Aquilani met a corner on the volley from outside the area, his shot hitting Luciano and falling into space where Pato was by far the quickest to react to slot the ball into the empty net after 33 minutes. The fourth seemed unfortunate as Pato crumpled in the area when going shoulder to shoulder with Luciano and the referee pointed to the spot. Ibrahimovic made no mistake from 12 yards, finding the same top corner as earlier. PTI