Olivier Giroud nets winner as Milan beat Napoli 1-0

Olivier Giroud is proving to be the difference for AC Milan this year as the veteran forward again scored against one of its direct rivals to help the Rossoneri win 1-0 at Napoli on Sunday and keep them on course to win a first Serie A title for more than a decade.

Giroud scored the only goal of an intense but cagey match to send Milan back to the top of the Italian league.

Milan, which last won the league in 2011, is two points ahead of defending champion Inter Milan - which has played a match less - and three ahead of Napoli in third.

The 35-year-old Giroud, who joined from Chelsea in the offseason, also scored both goals in a 2-1 win at Inter last month.

'We wanted to bring in players of substance, players who had already won something, players who knew what it meant to work hard to win,' Milan coach Stefano Pioli said. 

'It just took a video call with Olivier for us all to realize what a great professional, what a great person we had in front of us.

'It's important to have players with experience, professionalism and personality, especially seeing as we are still a young squad. Our aim was to insert players of a high level: technically, tactically and morally. Olivier is all of that.'

Juventus is seven points behind Milan and kept its slim title hopes alive by beating Spezia 1-0.

Talk before the match centered around the return of the 40-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was available for Milan for the first time since January following an Achilles problem.

But instead it was another veteran who took center stage. Following a first half that was high on entertainment but low on scoring chances, Giroud broke the deadlock four minutes after the restart. 

Napoli failed to clear a free kick and although Davide Calabria's