Fastest goal in Serie A history as Milan beats Sassuolo 2-1

MILAN (AP) - Rafael Leão scored the fastest goal in Serie A history on Sunday, netting after just six seconds to set league leader AC Milan on the way to a 2-1 win at Sassuolo.

Alexis Saelemaekers scored Milan's other goal as the Rossoneri remained a point clear of second-place Inter Milan, which beat promoted Spezia 2-1.

'œYes, it's not like we're brushing our dolls,'ť said Milan coach Stefano Pioli, when asked if Milan had prepared the goal in training.

'œWe prepare ourselves, we study our opponents and we try things to put them in difficulty. Today it went well.'ť

Roma missed the chance to move level with third-place Juventus as it lost 4-1 at Atalanta. Napoli can leapfrog Roma into fourth if it avoids defeat at Lazio later.

Milan was missing several top players, with a number of others joining star forward Zlatan Ibrahimović in the treatment room.

The average age of its starting lineup was again under 23 but it got off to the perfect start when Hakan Çalhanoğlu surged forward from kickoff and threaded the ball through to Leão, who fired it into the back of the net.

Statistics supplier Opta said the Portuguese youngster's goal beat the previous record of eight seconds set by Piacenza's Paolo Poggi against Fiorentina in 2001.

Milan later tweeted that Leão's goal was scored after precisely 6.2 seconds.

Leão thought he had turned provider in the ninth minute when he pulled back for Çalhanoğlu to turn in but it was ruled out because Saelemaekers was offside in the buildup.

Saelemaekers made up for that in the 26th as he tapped in after being set up by Theo Hernández following a rapid counterattack.

Milan seemed to be heading for a comfortable win before Domenico Berardi's free kick was deflected in, a minute from time, to set up a nervy finale.

IN-FORM INTER

Achraf Hakimi and Romelu Lukaku helped Inter to a sixth successive league win.

Inter was the in-form team in the league, while Spezia hadn't won for more than a month.

However, it took Inter until seven minutes into the second half to break the deadlock with Hakimi firing in a smart pass from Lautaro Martínez.

Lukaku doubled Inter's lead from the penalty spot after a handball from Sassuolo forward M'Bala Nzola.

Substitute Roberto Piccoli netted a consolation for Spezia in stoppage time with his first Serie A goal.

SUPER ILICIC

Substitute Josip Iličić provided two assists and scored a brilliant solo goal as Atalanta bounced back from Edin Džeko's early opener for Roma.

Iličić changed the match when he came on after the interval, setting up Duván Zapata for the equalizer and crossing for Robin Gosens' header.

Luis Muriel scored a minute after coming off the bench and Iličić capped a great night five minutes from time with a goal of his own after beating three defenders.

Atalanta captain Alejandro 'œPapu'ť Gómez was again dropped after a falling out with coach Gian Piero Gasperini.

OTHER MATCHES

A costly mistake from Bologna goalkeeper Angelo Da Costa helped relegation-threatened Torino to a 1-1 draw at home to Bologna.

Torino climbed into 18th spot, four points from safety. Genoa is level on points after losing 2-0 at Benevento.

Also, Cagliari drew 1-1 against Udinese.

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