Despite Injuries, Milan Beat Palermo, Go Top In Serie A

AC Milan got a major morale boost ahead of Sunday's long anticipated city derby against Inter Milan with a 3-1 victory against Palermo at the San Siro Wednesday night.

Ronaldinho and Andrea Pirlo were left out of the squad for the second straight match in order to rest for the derby. Alessandro Nesta was also out, but Massimiliano Allegri's squad proved to be very dangerous even without some of the big names in the squad.

Palermo came in on the back of a win following a four-match losing streak, but the Rossoneri attack and strong defense sent them back to their losing ways.

Milan, riding the quick start of Clarence Seedorf in the trequartista role, came galloping out of the gate, applying the early pressure. Pato finally put the home side up in the 19th minute off a corner from Seedorf.

As is the case all too often, however, Milan seemed to fall back once they scored. They held the Rosanero for the rest of the half and had a couple chances to double their lead, but failed to find the net. The visitors thought they should have had a penalty when Mauricio Ferreira Pinilla was taken down in the box as Thiago Silva went to clear a corner, but the Brazilian got enough of the ball to convince referee Luca Banti that it was a clean tackle.

Another common trait of Milan this year is giving up goals that should never have been scored to players who are not paid to score. The latest example of this is Palermo midfielder Armin Bacinovic, who netted from outside the area on a shot Christian Abbiati never even dove for. It was Bacinovic's second goal of the season.

Milan seemed set to answer right back. Pato went flying up the pitch on the resulting kickoff, getting all the way into the box before being taken down for what should have been a penalty, but Banti waved play on. It was immediately clear that the 21-year-old Brazilian would be unable to continue. He was taken off in place of Filippo Inzaghi, placing his status for the Derby della Madonna in jeopardy.

It was only 10 minutes before the 37-year-old European scoring champion Inzaghi picked up a knock of his own at the same time that Palermo goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu earned himself a yellow card and gave Milan a penalty for his tackle of captain Massimo Ambrosini.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic stepped up and converted the spot kick in the 77th minute, redeeming himself of the missed penalty in his debut during the loss to Cesena.

Inzaghi left the contest in the 80th minute and was replaced by Robinho. It took the Brazilian only three minutes to score with Ibrahimovic getting the assist and putting three points beyond any doubt.

Once again, 34-year-old summer signing Mario Yepes showed quality in the defense for Milan. Thiago Silva, Luca Antonini and Ignazio Abate all played well in the back as well. Meanwhile, along with Seedorf, Ambrosini, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Mathieu Flamini all showed their quality in the midfield and showed that perhaps they are they can all be excellent additions to the squad at any time.

Milan now have a couple days to rest up for the biggest game of the season thus far, the derby against Inter Milan, who drew at Lecce 1-1 this evening. Milan have not defeated Inter since the first derby of the 2008-2009 season. The Rossoneri will certainly be hoping that both Pato and Inzaghi will be available. Otherwise, Milan will be left thin in their deepest position.