AC Milan rally to beat Catania

 ROME, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Stephan El Shaarawy scored a brace¹ as AC Milan came from one goal down to beat Catania 3-1 in the Italian Serie A on Friday.

 

Nicola Legrottaglie opened the scoring after 11 minutes with a powerful header, but the hosts suffered a melt down when their midfielder Pablo Barrientos got the 

 

marching order three minutes after the break, and the Rossoneri swiftly capitalised on their extra man with goals from El Shaarawy and Kevin-Prince Boateng.

 

Boateng's dismissal at the death evened up the personnel, but the visitors nevertheless grabbed the game's only remaining goal as El Shaarawy struck again to seal the 

 

points.

 

The result lifted Massimiliano Allegri's side up to seventh in the standings - two points above their opponents.

 

Allegri conceded that El Shaarawy's first goal was offside.

 

"The first goal from El Shaarawy was offside," Allegri said. "It was easy to see. It was tough on Catania, because they played a really good game.

 

"The first half was very even, but we improved vastly in the second half.

 

"It is an important win for us and it allows us to continue the good form we are on," he said.

 

Milan almost went ahead in the sixth minute when Boateng latched² on to Robinho's pass and got his shot away, only to be denied by Catania goalkeeper Mariano Andujar.

 

And five minutes later the visitors were behind, Legrottaglie despatching Francesco Lodi's corner into the top-right corner.

 

Barrientos saw red in the early stages of the second period after his foul³ on Nocerino earned a second yellow card.

 

Within two minutes of the dismissal, El Shaarawy had Milan back on level terms. He tapped home from close range after Prince Boateng's right-wing cross had fallen to 

 

him via Robinho, and the goal was allowed to stand despite furious offside claims from the Catania defence.

 

The home team's anger mounted in the 56th minute when the Rossoneri went ahead. Mattia De Sciglio provided the cross for El Shaarawy to set up Boateng, who sent a fine 

 

curling shot into the bottom-right corner.

 

Boateng was sent for an early bath after a bad foul from behind on Lucas Castro in the 90th minute but, despite that setback⁴, El Shaarawy wrapped up the triumph in 

 

stoppage time with a neat curling shot from Kevin Constant's pass.

1 brace   

n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备

参考例句：

• My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
• You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。

2 latched   

v.理解( latch的过去式和过去分词 )；纠缠；用碰锁锁上（门等）；附着（在某物上）

参考例句：

• The government have latched onto environmental issues to win votes. 政府已开始大谈环境问题以争取选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He latched onto us and we couldn't get rid of him. 他缠着我们，甩也甩不掉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

4 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。