Junior Messias scored the only goal in AC Milan’s 1-0 win over Monza on Saturday, putting the champions in third place in Serie A.
Milan’s season is getting back on track, and Brazilian Messi scored in the 31st minute with a powerful strike from the edge of the box at the U-Power Stadium.
Stefano Pioli’s side is now level on 44 points with local rivals Inter Milan, who are second and face off-form Udinese in Saturday’s late match.
Both Milan giants are a whopping 18 points behind rampant league leaders Napoli after their 2-0 win at Sassuolo on Friday.
Saturday’s win against their Lombardy rivals was Milan’s third in a row in all competitions and came after Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Monza, whose unbeaten record ends at eight matches, dropped down a place to 11th thanks also to Bologna’s late 2-1 win at struggling Sampdoria earlier on Saturday.
Milan were still not at their very best, but they could have easily won by more. Michele Di Gregorio had to make a series of saves before Messi crashed home his third league goal of the season.
Rafael Leao clipped a speculative effort off the post in the 19th minute, and six minutes later, his weak finish at the end of a counter-attack was pushed out by Di Gregorio, who then had to pounce to stop Brahim Diaz from scoring on the round.
Tomori forced another good save from Di Gregorio with a snap shot just before the half-hour mark, but the best chance of the lot was wasted by Theo Hernandez in the 56th minute.
The France left-back was sent charging through by Leao but misdirected his chipped finish into the side netting.
Milan then had to weather a late Monza storm as Patrick Ciurria struck a low shot off the post before Di Gregorio kept it out. Sandro Tonali and Matteo Pessina denied struggling summer signing Charles De Ketelaere.