Spezia teach Milan a 'lesson' to give Inter chance at top spot

Seven-time European champions Milan had the chance to stretch their lead over Inter to five points and put 10 between themselves and third-placed Juventus, who lost 1-0 at Napoli earlier in the evening.

But goals from Giulio Maggiore and Simone Bastoni on a historic night for Spezia mean Inter will move one point ahead of their city rivals, with the Milan derby coming up next weekend, on Sunday night if they beat a Lazio side on a run of six straight league wins.

"It was beyond even my wildest dreams," said Bastoni, whose spectacular strike was his first in Serie A.

"If we carry on playing like this, we can achieve great things."

Spezia, who had to restart from the fourth tier in 2008 after going bankrupt, have impressed in their first ever Serie A season and move up to 14th, nine points away from the relegation zone after another exciting performance.

Vincenzo Italiano's side showed why observers in Italy back them to stay up, pushing Milan onto the back foot from the start and not letting them have a single shot on target despite the presence of talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

In fact it was Gianluigi Donnarumma who kept the away side level early on, making one fantastic save with 13 minutes gone to push Riccardo Saponara's powerful effort out from under the bar.

However the Italy stopper could do nothing in the 56th minute when after a sweeping passing move Maggiore found himself completely unmarked within spitting distance of the goal and slotted the home side ahead.

Bastoni doubled the hosts' lead 11 minutes later with a screamer of a strike, meeting Nahuel Estevez's pass from a free-kick to flash an angled shot past Donnarumma's despairing dive.

Substitute Mario Mandzukic's weak header wide in stoppage time was a sign of how little resistance Milan had put up in a dreadful display.

"We need to react and we will do," said Milan coach Stefano Pioli.

"It's a valuable lesson; if we don't perform to a certain level, we will be embarrassed like this."

Spezia's win means that Juventus' title bid is still just about on course despite Lorenzo Insigne scoring his 100th Napoli goal in a 1-0 win over the champions.