Serie A: Genoa Stun AC Milan at Empty San Siro to Boost Survival Hopes
Serie A: Genoa Stun AC Milan at Empty San Siro to Boost Survival Hopes
AC Milan were beaten by Genoa 1-2 at an eerie atmosphere in San Siro, as the visitors moved out of the Serie A relegation spots.

Milan: Relegation-battling Genoa moved out of the Serie A drop zone thanks to a surprise 2-1 win over AC Milan at an empty San Siro on Sunday.

The visitors raced into a two-goal lead before halftime after Goran Pandev and Francesco Cassata both turned in crosses from close range.

Milan rallied after the break as Zlatan Ibrahimovic pulled one back, but they could not find an equaliser in an eerie atmosphere at one of Italian football's most iconic stadiums.

All Serie A matches are to be played behind closed doors until April 3 as part of measures introduced by the Italian government to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

The result leaves Milan in seventh place on 36 points, while Genoa moved above Lecce and into 17th place on 25 points.

SPAL BEAT PARMA IN DELAYED MATCH

Struggling SPAL gave their slim Serie A survival hopes a boost with a 1-0 win at Parma in a match that kicked off over an hour late following the Italian sports minister's call for top flight matches to be suspended due to coronavirus.

Andrea Petagna's 71st-minute penalty decided a contest that was overshadowed by minister Vincenzo Spadafora's Facebook post just minutes before the match was due to kick off, insisting that the season be put on hold.

Spadafora's demand caused panic, with the players waiting in the tunnel for the 1130 GMT kick off at an empty Stadio Ennio Tardini sent back to the dressing rooms as match officials decided the best course of action.

The teams didn't take the field for another 75 minutes, and the opening half was unsurprisingly flat and lacking in incident.

Gervinho went closest for the hosts after the break when he clipped the top of the crossbar. Petagna secured the points from the spot not long after.

A VAR check ruled that Mattia Valoti had been pushed in the back and Petagna, a 24-year-old Italy international, scored the winner.

There was confusion over whether the rest of the days matches would be played after Italy's Sports Minister said that it made "no sense" to play matches while people in Italy were being asked "to make enormous sacrifices to prevent the spread of the virus".

(With inputs from Reuters and AFP)

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