Rafael Leão made an instant impact on his return from injury, scoring the decisive goal as AC Milan secured a hard-fought 1-0 away victory over Cagliari to climb to the top of the Serie A table on Friday.

Back after missing three matches through injury, Leão struck early in the second half to settle a contest that had lacked fluency for long periods. The win moved Milan into pole position and applied early pressure on title rivals Inter Milan and Napoli ahead of the weekend’s fixtures.

Milan’s performance in Sardinia was sluggish before the break, with the Rossoneri struggling to impose themselves in an uninspiring first half. Cagliari, however, will rue their own wastefulness after failing to make the most of several promising openings.

Marco Palestra went closest early on when he broke in behind the Milan defence, only to drag his effort wide. Michel Adopo forced the game’s first shot on target with a tame header just after the half-hour mark, while Luca Mazzitelli sliced wide from close range at the near post.

Milan briefly thought they had been handed a chance to take the lead on the stroke of half-time when a penalty was awarded, but celebrations were cut short as the decision was overturned following an offside in the build-up.

The visitors needed just five minutes after the restart to break the deadlock, clearly energised by Massimiliano Allegri’s team talk at the interval. Adrien Rabiot provided the assist with a precise low cross from the left, and Leão controlled expertly at the far post before smashing the ball past Elia Caprile. It was Leão’s sixth Serie A goal against Cagliari in just 10 appearances.

Shortly after scoring, Leão was withdrawn and replaced by Niclas Füllkrug, who made his Rossoneri debut following a loan move from West Ham United. While the German striker was not afforded a scoring opportunity, he came close to marking his Serie A bow with an assist, threading a pass through to Christian Pulisic, whose powerful effort was turned around the post by Caprile.

The Cagliari goalkeeper was called into action again late on, diving low to his left to deny Luka Modrić’s curling free-kick. His interventions ensured Milan had to settle for a narrow margin of victory.

The result extended Milan’s unbeaten league run to 16 matches (11 wins, five draws) and brought an end to Cagliari’s three-game unbeaten streak at home, as the Rossoneri continued their steady march in the Serie A title race.