AC Milan breezed to a comfortable 2-0 victory over BATE Borisov at the San Siro on Wednesday to keep pace with Barcelona at the top of Champions League Group H.
Goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kevin Prince Boateng ensured an easy night's work for the rossoneri.
It also means both they and the Spanish defending champions can qualify for the knock-out stages with victory in their next matches in two weeks time.
It means the crucial clash between the pair at the San Siro on November 23 should decide who tops the group.
And that is something Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri is already thinking about.
"It was an important win tonight to help with qualification, we still need points but our aim is to be playing Barcelona for first place, that would be an important result for the subsequent draw," he told SkySport.
"When things seem easy the team always relaxes a bit too much.
"I'm very happy, although in the first half we didn't play with pace but rather rushed things too much, that's why we missed so many chances which we could have exploited."
Such was Milan's comfort zone that they even managed to give French centre-back Philippe Mexes a short run-out on his injury comeback.
Allegri had said the day before the game that a win was vital to keep on Barca's heels and his side seemed to have taken note.
They poured forward from the get-go, determined not to let things become nervy, as they had in the 2-0 success against Viktoria Plzen three weeks ago.
From a half-cleared Antonio Cassano corner Alberto Aquilani volleyed wide from 15 yards.
Ibrahimovic then had a crack from fully 45 yards on the half-volley with goalkeeper Aleksandr Gutor off his line, but saw his effort fly over.
A clinical break from Milan saw Cassano tee up Aquilani whose precise effort came back off the upright.
Cassano chipped the ball to the back post where Ibrahimovic lifted his volley over the bar.
Even full-back Taye Taiwo tried to get in on the act with a volley from 30 yards but it sailed well wide.
Borisov should have taken the lead when Mark van Bommel's awful pass put Renan Bressan in one-on-one with Christian Abbiati but the Milan goalkeeper made a crucial one-handed save to spare the Dutch midfielder's blushes.
And a minute later Ibrahimovic gave the hosts the lead as he latched onto a rebound from Aquilani's scuffed shot to finish low inside the near post on 33 minutes.
He almost had a second but clipped wide of the far post from Cassano's pass.
BATE started the second period with a flurry of activity, the most alarming of which for Milan was a Maxsim Bordachev chance that Abbiati had to turn behind.
Ibrahimovic was still proving dangerous but after he showed good control with his chest, Marko Simic blocked his shot.
But from the resulting corner Boateng hit a rasping, rising shot from 25 yards that crashed in off the underside of the bar.
Borisov probably should have had a consolation goal late on but Maxsim Skavysh shot straight at Abbiati when well placed.
Source: AFP
