Pato on the double for Milan

Alexandre Pato was the hero for Milan at the San Siro as they defeated Genoa 2-0 in their Serie A match. The Brazilian wasted a couple of great chances, but that didn't stop him being the hero.

The opening 20 minutes of the game were desperately poor with both sides failing to create any chances of note.

Milan slowly started to exert their dominance and a brilliant first-time pass from Kaka released Alexandre Pato in the left-hand channel but he sliced his first-time shot and it went well wide.

Pato was then presented with a decent opportunity, following more fine work from Kaka, however he again didn’t make a good connection with the ball.

Just short of the half-hour mark Pato was guilty of an incredible miss. Kaka's shot was fortuitously deflected into the path of the youngster but from eight yards out, Rubinho in the Genoa goal somehow pulled off a miraculous point-blank save.

A horrendous mistake by Alessandro Nesta then gave Marco Borriello acres of space to run in down the left, and the striker brought a tough save out of Kalac at his near-post.

Milan came out in the second half on a mission and Clarence Seedorf turned a Massimo Oddo cross over the bar from close-range.

On the counter-attack Genoa then created their best chance of the match. Borriello latched onto a long-ball, flicked the ball past Nesta but his finish did not have enough power to beat Kalac.

Another superb chance then went begging for Milan. Kaka found his way onto the end of an Oddo ball but was denied superbly by Rubinho from just eight yards out.

It didn’t seem like it was going to be Milan’s day, and they were also denied a clear-cut penalty by the referee when Konko blatantly stuck out an arm on a Maldini cross.

Finally on 68 minutes the Rossoneri made the breakthrough courtesy of that man Pato. Maldini’s cross was headed on by Seedorf and the youngster coolly guided his header past Rubinho.

Just a minute later things became even more desperate for Genoa as they were reduced to ten men. Massimo Ambrosini put Pato clean through, and Rubinho came racing out of his area before handling the ball as the striker tried to lob the ball over him.

The referee had no hesitation in sending him off and Omar Milanetto was sacrificed for replacement goalkeeper Alessio Scarpi.

Pato then wasted a great opportunity to make it 2-0. Pirlo opened up the defence for Kaka, who cut the ball back for the 18-year-old in the middle. However his touch was too heavy and Scarpi dived onto the ball.

Genoa launched a rare counter-raid but Oddo performed a fine challenge to deny Borriello a shooting opportunity.

On 82 minutes the game was put beyond any doubt as Pato struck for the second time in the match. His electric pace saw him fly past Fabiano, and after seeing his original effort parried by Scarpi, he could not miss with the rebound.