AC Milan Leads Serie A Standings After Defeating Empoli, Pioli: It's Beautiful, But Only Virtual

AC Milan now leads the Serie A standings after beating Empoli. (Photo: Twitter.com/@acmilan )

JAKARTA - AC Milan coach, Stefano Pioli, doesn't seem to want to be too complacent even though his team is now leading the Serie A standings. Currently, AC Milan is at the top with 63 points.

The club nicknamed I Rossoneri are three points ahead of Napoli who are in second place. While Inter Milan stuck in third position with 59 points.

An additional three points after a 1-0 win against Empoli in the continuation of the Italian Serie A, Saturday, March 13, opened up more opportunities for Milan to win the Scudetto title.

"It's beautiful (the position in the table), but only virtual. It would be more comfortable if all the teams played the same number of games. Tonight was complicated, we didn't want to take any risks, it was an important win," said AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli, as quoted by Semper Milan.

Pioli admits his team missed too many chances in this match. He also did not deny Empoli played well in that match.

"However, we did not suffer too much in defense," he said.

Appearing in front of their own supporters, Milan actually has spread threats since the 9th minute. Alessandro Florenzi's right-foot shot was blocked by the opposing goalkeeper, Guglielmo Vicario.

In the 19th minute, the host's efforts paid off. Starting from Olivier Giroud's free kick which hit the Empoli posse, Pierre Kalulu immediately grabbed the wild ball.

The ball from Kalulu's kick went into the left corner of Vicario's goal and made the scoreboard 1-0 for Milan's advantage.

"We didn't dominate, but we controlled the game well. Finishing the game sooner would have been better, but winning games like this is very important," said Pioli.

"Now all teams have a goal, and therefore great concentration is always needed."