Rafael Leão’s second-half strike proved decisive for AC Milan, though only after late VAR drama denied visiting Lazio a stoppage-time penalty.
Lazio almost stunned San Siro inside two minutes, but Mike Maignan reacted superbly to claw away Mario Gila’s close-range header.
The Milan goalkeeper was called upon again later in the half, blocking Mattia Zaccagni’s low effort at his near post.
Milan eventually made their pressure count six minutes after the restart. A slick one-touch exchange released Fikayo Tomori down the right, and his driven ball across goal was turned in by Leão from just yards out.
Leão nearly doubled his tally moments later, only for Ivan Provedel to parry his header.
His 53rd-minute finish, however, stood as the match-winner—despite a tense finale.
Deep into the 100th minute, referee Giuseppe Collu was invited to the monitor after the ball appeared to strike Strahinja Pavlovic’s hand in the area.
The incident sparked fury from Lazio boss Massimiliano Allegri, who was shown a red card for his protests. After review, Collu instead awarded Milan a free-kick, judging that Adam Marušić had fouled the Rossoneri defender in the build-up. Milan held firm to secure another narrow 1-0 win.
The Rossoneri have now recorded seven clean sheets in their opening 13 Serie A fixtures—their best start defensively since the 2006-07 season.
Leão again took centre stage, reaching 101 direct goal contributions in Serie A for Milan (60 goals, 41 assists). H
He becomes just the fourth player to surpass 100 for a single club since 2019-20, joining Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Ciro Immobile (Lazio) and Lautaro Martínez (Inter).
Milan also strengthened their impressive record against top-half opposition, collecting 19 points from seven encounters this term while outshooting Lazio 16–9 on the night.
