AC Milan 1-0 Genoa: Late Boateng strike keeps Rossoneri's faint title hopes alive against 10-man Grifone

AC Milan found a late winner to keep up the pace at the Serie A summit after the club narrowly managed to break down a resilient Genoa outfit in a 1-0 victory at San Siro on Saturday.

Juventus' slender win at Cesena meant the Rossoneri would have to equal that result to ensure the deficit remained at three points, and Massimiliano Allegri's side looked to be on its way towards making it only one win in six league matches, before Kevin Prince-Boateng popped up in the nick of time.

Unsurprisingly it was the Milan which took the match to its opponent from the offset, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic again spearheading the attack and being entrusted with the responsibility of leading the line while Stephan El Shaarawy and Urby Emanuelson tucked in-behind.

However, the first notable chance of the game fell to Genoa, amid calls of a Milan handball offense. Rodrigo Palacio sent through Juraj Kucka on goal, but the Slovakia midfielder's shot was shut down by Alessandro Nesta with a flailing arm. However, the incident went unpunished.

Genoa came to San Siro with an apparent game plan, and much to the delight of new coach Luigi De Canio, his team's compactness and tendency to break back on the counterattack was working. The home side's spark seemed to die down as the half wore on, and the team proceeded to go through the motions.

And the second half was no different, or so it seemed for most part. Boateng, Ibrahimovic and Nocerino all had snapshots at the Genoese goal, but they all proved futile as the Rossoblu did their utmost to stifle the attacks, and the fans understandably became restless.

Allegri was in no mood to let the tempo suffice, and he threw on Antonio Cassano and Maxi Lopez to compliment the introduction of Boateng earlier in the match in a bid to force through a hugely-important winning strike, as news of Juventus' goal against Cesena began to filter in.

But the Grifoni's fine work in neutralizing the Rossoneri took a huge blow with 20 minutes left to play, as Bosko Jankovic foolishly slid into the back of Ignazio Abate on the edge of the box, only to be shown a second yellow and be given his marching orders. It seemed a potential turning point had been realized.

From the resulting free kick, Mario Yepes had the goal at his mercy, but a superb instinctive stop from Sebastien Frey meant Genoa would live on for a little longer yet, but the club could only take so much of Milan's wave-after-wave of attacks.

The winner came with only four minutes remaining, as Urby Emanuelson's cross was flicked on into the path of Boateng to set up an intriguing title run-in with only four matchdays left, while Genoa continues to hover dangerously over the relegation places.