An Alberto Gilardino penalty proved enough to dispose of Cagliari, as Milan go clear in second place.

The Rossoneri are on a roll and came into this game having scored nine goals in their previous two encounters with Treviso and Reggina. Cagliari's away form was far from reassuring, having lost 11 of their 13 ties and conceded a whopping 31 goals.

Andriy Shevchenko returned to the squad, albeit on the bench, but flu-ridden Andrea Pirlo and the injured Marcos Cafu, Paolo Maldini and Massimo Ambrosini remained sidelined. Antonio Langella was suspended for the Sardinians, so they switched to a 4-4-2 system. Kakha Kaladze was in the starting 11 the day after the body of his younger brother Levan, who was kidnapped in 2001, was identified.

Gennaro Gattuso required a well-timed tackle to stop David Suazo's counter-attack, while Serginho's sweeping cross from the left was nodded wide of the near post by Pippo Inzaghi.

Inzaghi is on fine form at the moment and caused panic in the area when he squeezed through three Cagliari defenders and was sandwiched for what the referee considered to be a foul. Alberto Gilardino rolled in the penalty for his 15th goal of the season to give Milan the lead.

There was another blow for Cagliari, who lost Nelson Abeijon to an injury after just 27 minutes and introduced Milan youth product Budel.

Antonio Chimenti tipped a Serginho free kick out from under the crossbar and from the resulting corner Jaap Stam volleyed over the target.

Chimenti was tested with a fantastic one-handed save on what would've been a magnificent Kaka curling yet powerful snapshot from the edge of the box.

A deflected Johan Vogel effort looped just over the bar, but Kaka's chipped pass sent Inzaghi alone on goal only to be halted for an incorrect offside decision. Nonetheless, the striker had ballooned his finish over.

Stam seems to have finally put his injury worries behind him, as he sprinted past three defenders before earning a corner kick on the stroke of half-time.

Stam picked up a knock in the first half and made way for Dario Simic. Suazo's low free kick was wide of the target and Serginho fell under Bega's challenge just outside the area and the referee waved play on.

Daniele Conti's free kick took a slight deflection off Gattuso to turn it off target. Milan were struggling to break down an organised Cagliari side and Manuel Rui Costa replaced Gilardino, switching to the Christmas Tree formation.

Chimenti dropped a deflected Serginho cross and Inzaghi and Rui Costa were almost able to take full advantage of this howler.

A fine team move eventually fell to Kaka, but he couldn't get power behind the finish from six yards on Gattuso's floated pass.

Cagliari remained dangerous on the counter-attack and it took a decisive Serginho tackle to prevent Mauro Esposito sweeping in Suazo's cut-back nine minutes from time.

Clarence Seedorf looked set to close up the game in Milan's favour with an impressive run and combination with Kaka, but Chimenti stuck out a foot to parry his precise angled drive.

Substitute Marek Jankulovski's cross couldn't get a final touch in off Rui Costa or Inzaghi in stoppages.