David Trezeguet has given Juventus the half-time advantage in the San Siro Scudetto showdown, while Alessandro Del Piero has been Man of the Match so far.
This was the Day of Reckoning - Milan and Juventus had been locked together at the top of the standings for two months and came head to head at the San Siro. The odds were slightly in favour of the Rossoneri, whose Coach Carlo Ancelotti was unbeaten in home games against Fabio Capello and who had no injury worries going into the tie, while Juve were without Jonathan Zebina, Alessio Tacchinardi and suspended top-scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Milan were hammered 3-1 at PSV Eindhoven midweek, though that result still enabled them to reach the Champions' League Final on away goals. Massimo Ambrosini scored the late header, but was still relegated to the bench in favour of Clarence Seedorf. David Trezeguet had his first start since suffering an ankle injury over a month ago and partnered Alessandro Del Piero.
The Rossoneri had a strong start and Andriy Shevchenko was unable to make the most of Stephen Appiah's error.
There was danger for Juve on 19 minuts, as Sheva managed to get round the goalkeeper, but Gigi Buffon did enough to narrow the angle so that he couldn't get in a cross or a shot.
However, it was the Bianconeri who took the lead after 28 minutes with a well-worked goal. Alessandro Del Piero ran forward on the counter-attack and saw his first cross charged down, so he bicycle-kicked it for David Trezeguet's precise header.
Dida saved a promising Del Piero strike as Milan struggled to get back into the game after this heavy blow.